Sanctuary
by Amulet Misty
Summary: [AU] "Be careful what you wish for..." - Moving back to Shibuya had not been in his plans, but as long as no one bothered him, Neku could deal with it. What he couldn't deal with, would be a pair of siblings trying to befriend him, a snarky-as-hell 'angel' and a Stalker girl who insisted on calling him. Especially when the girl claimed to be dead. (Neku/Shiki.)
1. Reality

**Sanctuary**

_Friends. Family. Dreams._

_All of these things are worthless._

_Friends only turn their backs on you._

_Family just hurt you. They abandon you._

_Dreams require passion._

_Passion is a funny thing; it can be full of good intentions or it can be something that just wants to break everything else apart. _

_Still, you need even a little bit of passion to care about something._

_I just don't have any passion. _

_Not for anything._

* * *

**Chapter One - Reality**

The crisp cool air accompanied a lone boy as he made his way through the city. His large purple headphones hung loosely off his neck, ready to block out, when needed, all the unnecessary noise of cars, dogs and, most importantly, people.

He hated people. Not just a certain type of person but people collectively. He hated how they walked in groups, shouting all the time, thinking their opinion mattered the most. Laughing and talking about the most mundane things.

The boy passed by the ticket gates, climbing up the stairs to the platform, while wishing away all the other people around, all rushing and bumping into him, mindlessly chattering.

He especially hated people like the other boy standing at the platform he had chosen to wait on. It had looked like a decent spot from afar, being the only place that wasn't overcrowded, but the boy's volume could make up for three crowds. Why couldn't the train station just have been empty?

"Man! Your firs' time takin' a train to school. Can you believe it?" The other boy was overly loud. The person he was talking to was standing _right _next to him.

"There's a first time for everything, as they say," said a young blond girl. "Beat, did you remember to bring your lunch today?"

"Bwaaah! No! Rhyme, you should've told me before we left."

He thought of them to be a weird pair. It was obvious they were siblings, they talked very familiarly, their hair colour was identical, they shared certain facial features and they were wearing matching skull-themed black beanie hats, which looked bizarre with their school uniform - a smart, white, short-sleeved collared shirt with black trousers, or a black skirt in the girl's case.

Just as he had been studying them, the tall one noticed him too. "Yo! Look Rhyme, he's got the same threads as us."

Rhyme poked her head around her brother to see who Beat was talking about. "Oh! You must be in the same school as us." She gave him a friendly smile.

Yes, unfortunately, he was indeed wearing the same uniform as the two and it turned out that he was just about to join a school that had these two as students. A wannabe punk and a smiley little girl. Oh joy.

At that moment the tracks rattled as a train approached the station. An automated woman's voice started speaking through the station speakers. "The Hibiya-line train to Ebisu Station has arrived, please board the train carefully-"

He slipped pass the two and headed to the back of the carriage, holding onto a handle hanging above him.

Luck wasn't with him today. The pair chose to pick seats right next to where he was standing. The train doors shut swiftly and it was off, leaving behind the iconic shopping district and heading towards Ebisu, where the buildings were just as tall, and where, Neku was convinced, the people would be just as bothersome.

"Yo, the name's Beat an' this is Rhyme, my sister. Ain't seen you 'round before. You new?" _Great_. He had not even arrived there yet and this guy was _talking _to him.

The train was noisy. He could get away with pretending not to have heard him.

"YO! WHERE 'CHU COME FROM?" The whole crowded carriage had heard the boy, some people even looking up from their newspapers to see who was talking.

"Hokkaido." He prayed that would have ended their conversation.

"That's cool." Beat was now grinning up at him. "Geddit? _Cool._'Cause Hokkaido's cold an' all. Anyways, welcome to Shibuya. It's a great place, yo. Nothin' beats the ramen here. Ya gotta check out this one place-"

"I hate Shibuya," the boy said bluntly. If that didn't make it obvious that he didn't want to talk, he didn't know what would.

"Really, man? Already? You jus' got here, right?" The girl tugged on her brother's sleeve and shook her head. "What's up, Rhyme?"

"I don't think he wants to talk to us, Beat." She stared at him with a slight frown, as if she was trying to figure him out. It was really starting to irritate him.

"What's your name, yo?" he asked, ignoring her.

He really just couldn't be bothered. He lifted his headphones and placed them over his ears, causing them to flatten his spiky shock of orange hair and turned the volume all the way up.

Closing his eyes. He blocked out Beat and Rhyme. He blocked up everyone else on the carriage. He blocked out everything.

His moment of peace was disturbed only when the train jolted to a halt.

He let go of the handle bar, and pushed his way out of the train. He caught no sight of the pair once he was out of the station, and deemed it safe enough to take off his headphones.

The rest of his walk to school went by smoothly and he managed to reach the parts of the streets that were dense with students from his school, having already looked up the way to get to his school from the station beforehand.

Then a shout came from behind. "YOOO! Wait up! I asked ya a question so you better answer!"

This guy was _really_ persistent. He ran up to him, cracking his fists. Rhyme had been left behind, and was now panting while attempting to catch up to her brother.

They were drawing attention to them from the other students; some turned their heads at them as they passed. He really didn't want to deal with attention.

Purposefully stopping, he spun around and glared up at Beat with his steel-blue eyes. "If it'll shut you up, my name is Neku Sakuraba." Wasting no more time, he continued towards the school entrance without another word.

He heard the guy say, "What's his problem, yo?"

"Some find solace in solitude," his sister replied, her voice sounding solemn.

"Huh. Well that solitude's gotta be a pretty boring place. He ain't gonna make friends like that…"

It didn't matter - he didn't need friends.

xxxxx

Neku dropped his school briefcase onto his bed. The school day was nothing out of the ordinary – exactly how Neku liked it. He had brushed off all the pests that had tried to talk to him, all wondering why he had transferred right in the middle of high school and after continuously ignoring them, they stopped their buzzing and left him alone. He hadn't got much homework that day; the teachers deemed that since it was the first day, they'd be let off the hook.

The wannabe punk hadn't bothered him for the rest of the school day. He was in a different class to Neku, he was relieved to find.

There was a sudden ring throughout the apartment, a shrill sound that was coming from the house phone. He was caught off-guard by it, having just had it installed two weeks ago, the total amount of calls he had received so far amounting to zero. He would think that since there was no one that would really call him, there would be no point in even having a phone, but as he was told the same two weeks ago, if there was an emergency, a house phone might come in handy.

The phone stopped ringing, while Neku had been thinking. He walked over the small black table that the phone had been set on and read the numbers on the screen that were next to the words '01 Missed Call'. He wondered who could have called; he didn't recognise the number. Maybe it was just some salesperson.

_Ring, ring, ring_. Huh. Guess he didn't need to wonder any more. He picked up the receiver and held to his ear. "Who's this?"

"That's no way to greet your new favourite uncle. I at least deserve a 'hello'." Great, _another_ nuisance. His uncle must have known that Neku wanted nothing to do with him (surely his relatives had told him about Neku) and yet he acted as if they were on close terms.

"Hello."

His uncle laughed, though Neku didn't get what was so funny. "Heh, you sound just like your dad. You're just like him." _Dad? All I said was 'hello'. How would you know I'm like him just by that? _"You must find it weird that I'm technically taking care of you now, even though we haven't even seen each other yet, but from what I hear you sound just like your dad. I've gotta say, you're a brave kid for wanting to stay on your own."

That's right; Neku had to be polite to him. This man was his new guardian. After his family relatives on his mother's side declared him as a burden, they turned to this man who offered to take Neku off their hands. His relatives had delivered him to the entrance of the apartment block, located conveniently by Shibuya Station. When he opened the door, he found the flat fully-furnished and a note explaining Neku's living circumstances and that he wouldn't be able to meet Neku for a few weeks.

"Thanks, I guess." It was strange, though. Neku had never verbally expressed his want to live by himself.

"…You really don't talk much, do ya?"

"…"

"I'll take that as a no. Anyway, hope you like the flat. If you need anything you've got my number from the note I left you. I've got to go now. Duty calls." He uncle chuckled. "Got a big deal to make, but I'm sure I've got it in the bag. I'll see ya around." His uncle hung up and Neku placed the receiver back down.

Having nothing else to do, he switched on the TV and went to the music channel. It always interested him to see what people decided to choose for the top ten songs of the week. While he didn't like people themselves, he had to admit that they could come up with things that even he didn't mind – music being one of them.

While the fifth song on the charts started, his mind shifted back to the conversation (if such a one-sided talk could be called that) with his uncle. It didn't exactly bother him that much but he realised that he had no clue about who exactly his uncle was. Neku knew he was distantly related to his new guardian through his father.

But that was about it.

He didn't know his uncle's name. It was weird that his uncle wouldn't bother telling him his name. Even though his relatives had insisted on him keeping the phone, if there was a real emergency, wouldn't he need to have a reference by name? He supposed his uncle had just assumed that Neku would just give them the number that he left by the telephone table and it would be fine. He'd also probably get in trouble since Neku was pretty sure that leaving a sixteen year old kid to live alone in a flat wasn't exactly responsible, even if it was what he thought Neku wanted.

Well whatever. The likelihood of an emergency happening was next to nothing.

His life was uneventful, and it wasn't as if that was going to change any time soon.

He started flicking through the channels, as chart-topper song number two began killing his ears. Eventually he stopped at the news channel. The scrolling titles at the bottom read, 'Eiji Ouji's blog hits seven million visitors. Local gangs getting rowdy in Shibuya. Girl saves cat from a painful death and -' The small titles could not compare to the event that was flashing on the screen. A car crash, a big one, happened today near Miyashita Park. A lorry had crashed into the car after the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel, and let the vehicle swerve onto the wrong lane. The car had three passengers, two were fatally injured and one had been proclaimed dead just half an hour ago. Ironically, the driver had escaped unharmed.

Neku switched back to the music channel. He couldn't watch scenes of death. It just reminded him of the stupidity people could cause. Why the hell had that man been driving if he was too tired? Neku didn't want people to bother him, but he didn't want to bother them either, so he kept himself well away from any trouble.

Trouble wasn't something he wanted to deal with anymore.

xxxxx

"The cooking club wants _you_."

"Join the basketball team!"

"Do you hear that? That's the sound of a bunch of losers. Tryout for the soccer team, our team managers are _way_ cuter than theirs."

"Hey! Kid, you look like the type of person who likes to talk. How 'bout joining the debating club?"

_What a joke. _Even though his classmates had backed off, the news hadn't completely spread around yet that Neku preferred to be left to his own devices, and so club recruiters had specifically been searching him out as 'the new second-year transfer kid'. Of course he just said 'no' and walked away. It was typical that he had transferred to a school that just _had _to be one of those schools that have a 'club festival' to invite new students to join.

All the clubs had prepared a stall with a large sign or some club members performing skits to try to get more people to join them. It was a waste of time to have to stay at school for another hour just to have the rest students loiter around without really doing much. He didn't see the point of it all; if someone wanted to join a club, they could just sign up on the sheets on the notice-board.

"Yo! Neko!" _Neko? _There was only one person he'd seen so far that could make such a mistake in someone's name. Sure enough, it was that Beat kid. He was still adorning his ridiculous skull beanie. It was another reason why Neku questioned the school his uncle had chosen for him. A school that allowed skull hats could not be a particularly fantastic one. Come to think of it, they didn't ask him to take off his head-phones either, though he supposed it could count as an up-side.

"Thinkin' of joinin' any clubs?"

_Seriously? Did he just forget what happened yesterday when he first tried to talk to me? _"Go away." The kid obviously needed him to spell it out for him.

Yet he just looked at Neku, grinning and continued speaking. "I didn't join any clubs las' year but I think I'm gonna join a sports one this year. Dunno if I'd like basketball or soccer more. Both sound cool, you know? I'm tall so basketball should be easy but something's wrong with basketballs and they never wanna go into the net." _It's probably just that your aim's bad._" And my kicks are so bad-ass that they just go straight past the net, yo." _Again, your aim just sucks. _"It's tough, ain't it Neko?"

"I think you have a hearing defect," said Neku.

Beat looked at him blankly. "A hearing whatsit?"

_Which proves my point. _"It means you've got to clean out your ears because you must be deaf."

"Damn straight!"

This kid was so dense that Neku felt like punching him. He didn't even know when Neku was trying to insult him.

"_Listen_. I'm only going to say this once. Firstly, my name is _Neku _Sakuraba, so stop calling me 'Neko'. You shouldn't even be trying to call me by my first name. Secondly, get it through your thick head – I. Don't. Want. To. Talk. To You," he spat, annunciating each word sharply.

It was then that Beat frowned. Finally. Neku had finally got the message across to the idiot-

"I get it," he said with a serious face. "You don't like your name either. My folks gave me a stupid name too. That's why I'm 'Beat' now. 'Cause my last name's Bito. How 'bout I call you…Phones. Like the 'phones you've got 'round ya neck." Then a cheerful smile broke onto his face again. "An' no point tryin' to fool me. I figured that the whole solitude thing was crap. You're jus' shy, ain't ya?" _Someone kill me now. _"No worries, man. I've got your back. From now on we're bros." Beat hooked an arm around his shoulders. _I'm serious. Just get a gun and shoot me. _"We're gonna rule the club. Hey, what club were we joinin', again?"

"_We _aren't joining any club." Neku finally snapped. "I'm not joining any club with you. I don't care about any of the clubs. They could all just close down for all I care. They're all just stupid excuses for people to have another thing to talk about. All that talk about 'having fun together' is just crap. There's nothing fun about running around in shorts and kicking a ball around or painting stupid pictures or having a club where people just talk about useless things that don't even matter."

Neku breathed heavily, having shouted so loudly. It was as if the only thing he could hear now was his own breathing.

…Actually, it _was_ the only thing he could hear.

Abruptly, Neku realised that all the other students had stopped talking while he had yelled at Beat. The soccer club was sending glares at him. The arts and crafts club were holding back tears. The debating club stood speechless. And everyone else gaped in a hushed awe at him.

It was the second day and he'd already brought attention upon himself. People holding attention sparked noise from others. If there was one thing he hated more than noise, was when the noise was concerning something about him.

Someone from the crowd, a third-year student from the soccer club, broke the silence and pointed a finger at him. "Hey, transfer student. Don't get all cocky just because you think you're special. Don't look down on us. Everyone works hard for their club. It's a place in school where you can make friendships and work towards your dream."

Even though it was silent, Neku felt the whole school's disapproval of him as they waited for him to apologise.

_Pathetic. _Neku let out a slow breath of air, and then said loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Have fun making those '_friendships'_ . They're just as imaginary as those dreams of yours."

As if he had, with those words, smashed a sound-proof glass wall, the noise swept over him in volumes of boos and shouts.

It was at a moment like this, with students openly yelling at his disrespect, that he didn't mind the noise. All he had to do was put on his headphones. After all, he kind of took pity on them. Their reality consisted of facing that perhaps their dreams were just 'dreams'. In his reality, he didn't have to face anything because he didn't have dreams.

Dreams could tear people's lives apart. Reality was what kept his together.

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! Here I am with a new multi-chapter fanfic. I've worked hard on this one, doing some actual planning this time with the story. And I chose the perfect cover for this fic. Yes, this story is serious business here. Insert shocked gasps right here.**

**I'd like to point out that you may find a mixture of both UK-English and US-English used in my works, due to where I was educated, being neither in the US or UK. **** I do tend to stick to the UK-way of writing but if you do find a stray term that seems out of place, this would be the reason why. **For example I _**say **_**'football' but for the sake of ease I call it 'soccer' fanfics. Interestingly, 'pants' means underwear in UK-English, which I did not know before coming to study in the UK – which is why everyone stared at me like I was weird when I said 'I have my favourite pants on right now, it's an awesome colour, don't you think?'.**

**I'll be updating this about once every two weeks. I'll also be including a preview of the next chapter at the bottom of every newly posted chapter, as you can see below. Hope you enjoyed reading this first chapter.**

**P.S. Everyone likes reviews...including me. -coughs-**

* * *

**Chapter Two – Unknown**

Bravo Neku, you've just set yourself up as a complete jerk.

_"W-who - no - _what_ are you?"_

You're wrong, you know, your life is going to change.

_"You see, I am in the process of doing...a favour for a certain person."_

Because of me. Because of him. Because of them.

_"I'm scared...it's...so dark."_

And because of her. Especially because of her.


	2. Unknown

**Sanctuary**

_Here._

_I can feel it coming._

_Sometimes it comes at the most inconvenient of moments and I don't know what to do._

_When it arrives, all I can do is wait, until I feel myself falling forwards._

_The wind pushes me down, making everything go black._

_I can't control it._

_I hate that._

* * *

**Chapter Two - Unknown**

The streets of Cadoi City were full of pedestrians, most walking at a faster pace than usual to escape the unusually blistering heat of the day. Neku wondered why the hell the weather changed so quickly. It had been perfectly decent not just an hour ago whilst he had still been at school.

A small smirk played across his lips. He wasn't usually one to enjoy aggravating people, but they had really brought it upon themselves; their overly dramatic reaction was just plain amusing.

Although, thinking back on it, maybe he had just let out his frustrations caused by Beat towards them.

It didn't matter, he decided. He wasn't going to make friends with any of them and he could always count the incident as an advance payment for when they _did_ do something to annoy him.

Because people always did have something against him in the end, no matter which school he went to.

He made his way through the underpass, noting the graffiti that covered its walls. It brought back a sense of nostalgia to him. While the graffiti was ever-changing, with each new artist who spray-painted on its walls bringing something different along, it still held the same essence to it.

_Kind of takes me back…Oh? _He had been aimlessly wandering through Shibuya and now found himself having ended up all the way in Miyashita Park. He hadn't visited the park since he had arrived. He might as well take a look around.

As he drew closer to the park, his eyes fell to the orange cones and yellow tape that enclosed a section of the road just beside the park.

_Right…there was a crash yesterday_. Neku had forgotten all about it. He was drawn straight up to the nearest cone to have a better look, curiosity getting the best of him. He had never seen a car crash up close before.

It seemed like the officials hadn't finished clearing up the road yet. What once might have been an expensive, navy- blue, foreign car that any owner would have been proud of was now a wreck. The car's back half looked crushed, as if it had been a soda can that somebody decided to step on. The front half didn't look too damaged in comparison, though the windows on either side of the seats had been shattered. There weren't any fragments of glass lying on the floor; they must have cleaned it up either yesterday or earlier this morning. He didn't spot the truck that had caused the crash, so they must have got that out of the way too.

The car was the last sign that the crash happened and soon it would be carried away, the road would be open again and Shibuya would carry on as it always did.

"Ouch," Neku muttered, as a light shined into his eyes without warning. The windshield of the car had been severely cracked and the rays of light just _had_ to freaking hit it an angle that almost blinded him.

_Is it me, or is that light getting brighter?_ Either the path of light was seriously messed up, or he was hallucinating, because the windshield of the car seemed to be illuminating.

Neku covered his eyes with his right arm, until gradually the light died down. He slowly lowered his arm and his eyes widened. He could see himself reflected in the windshield.

And there was a glowing figure reflected there too, just beside him. Feeling chills run up his spine, he whipped around.

Only there was nothing and no one there. _What the hell?_

He quickly looked back at the car but the windshield glinted back at him innocently, empty of any glowing figures that might have been there. The only figure he could see was of him.

_It was a trick of light, that's all._ That's what he told himself because to think it was anything otherwise would be crazy.

It's not like it could be a ghost or something like that, why would there be a ghost haunting – the car stared at him not-so innocently this time. _Someone died in the crash_, he remembered.

Neku didn't believe in ghosts, so there was no reason to be afraid.

…But if there _were_ ghosts, he didn't want to be the one to find out, he concluded, as he sped-walked into Miyashita Park.

Only, the park didn't make Neku feel all that better. Firstly, he could hardly recognise it. When he had first heard that it had been revamped he didn't think it meant this.

There were multiple ramps of differing sizes and a deep bowl to complete the area. Neku thought that it looked strange in contrast to the surrounding patches of trees and grass.

_If the skating area is here, then _that_ might still be around_. Neku followed the path away from the skating area and followed the path that bore left. He was met with temporary metal fences that barred his way. It was closed for maintenance apparently, so Neku headed the other way. Well, it didn't matter, Neku had the feeling that he had been going in the wrong direction. After walking down the path on the left for a while longer, the area he entered started to become more familiar.

As a tall fountain came into sight, Neku smiled, relieved it was still here. If there was anything he liked in Shibuya, it would be this fountain. There wasn't any real reason except that he felt calm here. At peace, even.

He watched the water cascade down the circular edges of the fountain down to the base, where it shimmered and glittered. There were many coins of varying value, sitting at the bottom of the fountain, each representing a wish. A dream.

Neku was reminded again of the commotion earlier. A small part of him that he usually kept locked away felt guilty. After all, he used to have dreams too.

Back in the day, he used to always leave a coin here whenever he visited. He rummaged through his pockets and managed to find a ten yen coin. He threw it up and caught it again. He didn't have a wish for the fountain this time; he hadn't made wishes for a while.

He flipped it again. Wishes were for dreamers. Dreaming had many downsides. Pain, hurt, betrayal; if only people could dream without hurting others.

Even so, there was no harm in keeping traditions.

He threw it up one final time, and watched as it fell towards the water.

_I wish for…well, I don't know. I guess…sometimes…I wish I _had_ something to wish for…_

The water rippled as the coin broke the surface.

A sudden brightness entered his vision, forcing his eyes to close almost immediately.

"Argh!" Neku yelled out loud.

As if the light responded to his voice, it started to die down again.

Neku opened his eyes only to step back from the fountain, shocked. The fountain had stopped. He didn't mean that it was switched off; he meant that it had literally _stopped_. The water that had been flowing was stuck in mid-motion. The ripples that his coin had made were still visible, and the coin had been paused in its fall towards the bottom of the fountain.

He blinked repeatedly, trying to get rid of the weird hallucinations he was seeing.

Only, it backfired because now he could see the figure he had seen before again in the water's reflection, right next to his own image.

"What is going on?" He asked himself, reaching out to touch the figure in the water. The figure's mouth moved in the reflection.

At the same time, he heard voices from beside him say, "You made a wish, Neku Sakuraba."

He jumped to his left as he realised that this time the figure was not just in the reflection but had actually been standing _next_ to him.

The figure was a man. Or at least it looked like a man. Except that the man's whole body was luminescent. The man seemed to be wearing clothes that blended into him, though Neku didn't know if he could trust his eyes as he found his vision didn't allow him to even see the man's figure all too clearly. Looking at his face, which Neku could just barely do, it seemed to have certain feminine qualities to it. But Neku had a feeling that made him certain it was a male.

At the same time he was sure this _thing_, whatever it was, was not human.

"You are right. I certainly am not human," he said. Neku realised that he hadn't heard voices earlier but one single voice; one voice that echoed eerily and had several pitches to it at once.

He was more stunned by the fact that the thing could read his mind, really.

It occurred to him that the park was now unnaturally silent. He looked around him and found that not only had the fountain frozen, but the few other people in the park were also stock-still. A mother sitting on a bench was about to turn the page of her book; her son was about to throw a stick to a dog that was stuck standing on its hind legs.

_This is unreal. It's like...time stopped. Can they see what's going on?  
_  
"No, Neku Sakuraba. They are not aware of the pause in time," said the figure, making Neku look back at him.

"W-who - no - _what_ are you?" Neku didn't want to seem scared but he was freaked out as hell.

"My name is Joshua. I am an angel," he said, calmly as if this was the most normal thing was the world.

Neku took another step away from the 'angel'. An angel. _Haha... someone wake me up. Please._

"I am sorry to inform you that this is no dream." He didn't look sorry at all. In fact, it looked like he was enjoying Neku's reaction to all of this. What kind of angel took pleasure in someone who was troubled? "Ah, I am not the kind of angel you would imagine, though I call myself one. Perhaps I'm more of a genie or a spirit. Some would even go so far as to call me a demon." He said the last sentence with a sly smile, which did not improve Neku's mentality at all.

The boy clenched his fists. "What do you want from me?"

"What makes you think I want something from you?" he asked, with a strange sort of giggle at the end.

"I'm the only one here not playing musical statues, so you've gotta want something from me. So, what is it?"

"Straight to the point, I see. You waste no words - that is a good trait to have." Neku suspected that he meant that as a compliment, but it sounded more condescending to him. "It is not exactly what I want from you, though I feel the need to give you a notice in advance."

"That doesn't answer my question," he pointed out.

"I know. Have a bit of patience, I am getting there," the man – no, angel – wait – demon…ugh…_Joshua_ said. "You see, I am in the process of doing...a favour for a certain person." He extended an arm towards Neku, palm facing towards him.

Oh shit. There was only _one_ thing a favour from a supernatural being could mean. This time-stopping demon was going to kill him. He held his breath as Joshua's palm glowed even brighter.

He expected to be instantly disintegrated, or for beams of lights to fry him, or even for something ridiculous like, say, a car to fall on him and kill him.

He did not expect to feel his phone vibrate and he almost choked on the scream he had been getting ready to let out.

"Now, now, Neku. You cannot assume that 'favours' refer to killing someone, just because I am a demon. I fear that you may need to read less manga," said Joshua, with a chuckle. "I am assuming that you are wondering what happened to your phone." _More like reading my mind… "_I simply adjusted it a tiny bit. You shall soon be acquainted with the person whose favour this is."

"Exactly who are you talking about?" Neku demanded, feeling sour about his embarrassing panic earlier on.

"That is the surprise, Neku." Joshua was suspicious. _Definitely suspicious. _

"Okay, whatever. But why does this person want to contact me?"

"I might suggest that you learn the meaning of 'surprise'," said Joshua in an infuriating tone. Before Neku could retort, he continued, "Although I suppose I could give you a hint." He paused (for dramatic effect, Neku was sure). "You will get a call and from someone that you would not expect."

_That was a load of help. I don't expect any calls from anyone anyway._ "That's brilliant news to me. It's the moment I've been waiting for my entire life. Thanks," he said as sarcastically as possible.

The angel giggled, raising his hand just in front of his face. "The pleasure is mine." Looking like that, Joshua looked harmless enough but Neku couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness. After a moment he stopped laughing and raised his head, turning to the right. He seemed to have sensed something, his eyes gaining a more serious quality.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, really," he replied, though he didn't convince Neku. "Though I think it is time for us to part ways for now."

Before Neku could protest that Joshua hadn't really explained anything to him, there was a flash of light and suddenly he could understand why he might choose to call himself an angel. Two majestic, pure white wings could be seen emerging from Joshua's back.

With a flap of his wings, so powerful that Neku almost fell back, Joshua pushed himself off the ground.

"Farewell, Neku," he said, before speeding past him, causing another gust of wind, that made Neku squeeze his eyes shut.

The moment he opened his eyes again, sound entered his ears - the sound of the fountain flowing again, of the kid saying 'fetch' and the dog barking.

His coin finally touched the bottom.

He took out his orange phone from his pocket, flipping it open. The time was 5:00 PM so judging by the time he left school, the whole talk with Joshua must have really been while time had stopped. It also confirmed that he _had_ actually conversed with him and not just experienced a prolonged hallucination.

A ringing sound started coming from his phone.

Neku almost swore out loud in surprise, which wouldn't be good with kids around. What? Yes, he didn't like people, but kids who swore always grew up to be irritating people. Neku didn't need more of them in the world. Never mind that he was being hypocritical, not having the cleanest mouth in Japan.

His phone displayed the words 'unknown number'. _Dammit Joshua, you could've told me the call would come _right_ after our conversation.  
_  
It was stupid but his heart started beating too fast for his liking. He was nervous - he'd just been confronted some supernatural thing who, from what Neku had observed, could probably hurt him if he really had the mind to.

The caller could be one of Joshua's enemies, if he had any - maybe other demons. Joshua seemed like the type who could piss off both ordinary people as well as the extraordinary.

_Well, only one way to find out..._

He clicked the 'accept call' button and lifted it to his ear.

This only led to being deafened by a high-pitched, girlish voice. "Finally! Did you watch Hattori's Secret Fashion Show on TV last night? I swear, I almost died from screaming - the designs they made were the most amazing -"

"Hello?" Neku interrupted. "Who is this?"

The girl paused. "Huh?"

"I _said_ 'who is this?'"

Another silence. Then another flurry of the fastest talking Neku had ever heard. "Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry! I just got a new number since my phone got stolen and I wanted to call my friend since I thought I knew her number off by heart but I obviously got the wrong number since you don't sound her at all." She paused once more for a breath, but before Neku could reply - "Again, I'm so sorry for bothering you. It won't happen again! Bye!" The line went dead.

The wind whistled mockingly as it passed over Neku .

Angel or not, Joshua was a prick.

He felt rage bubble within him. He got worked up for nothing. Although he couldn't say that Joshua was a normal being, he looked fishy enough to pull this kind of prank just to mess with him if he ever felt bored.

_Even the angels are out to piss me off._

xxxxx

The teen lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to fall asleep. It was almost ten at night at the moment, and Neku had again already finished all his homework again. He could probably have left it for a few days, but after this afternoon, a little normalcy was welcomed.

There was something that was nagging him at the back of his mind. When Joshua first appeared, he said it was because Neku had made a wish, but at the time he was so caught up with the weirdness of it all that he didn't press Joshua on the subject.

He didn't know why, but he felt that maybe his wish had significance.

He turned his head to the left to gaze at his bedside table. Maybe that was why he left his phone on tonight.

Because surely, an angel wouldn't talk to him just to annoy him. That would be absurd...Of course, the notion that angels themselves existed sounded absurd too.

_Ugh, I need some water_. Although he felt groggy, his thirst beat it out and he dragged himself to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. His eyelids felt like they were about to shut at any moment…

"_Brain-ware, main-wave, psycho got a high kick…"_

Neku almost jumped when he heard the electronic tune start up. _Where is that song coming from?_ His eyes wandered to the ceiling. His one-floor-up neighbours occasionally played loud music, but never at night.

And he recognised the song - 'Twister'. It had been the chart topper for the past month, and he admittedly really liked it. It was _much_ better than the crap his neighbours usually played.

The song sounded like it had originated from _his_ flat. Neku glanced at the TV hurriedly. No, it was still switched off.

Wait. It was coming from his room.

_Could it be -?_ He ran back into his room, flicking the light switch as he entered.

"…e_ffects has defects, take a bow to the moon…_"

His phone. The song was coming from his _phone_. He hadn't set this song as his ringtone - it must have been the work of Joshua. He read the screen message: "Unknown Number Calling."

_Here goes nothing..._

Neku answered the call, but the song continued playing. He was debating whether or not he should just put it back down. No one was speaking to him…

Suddenly, he felt stunned, as if an electric current had run through him.

"…_cornet and spin it_…"

_My head is spinning all right._ Neku gripped his head with his free hand. His head was throbbing, as if the song was the thing hurting it. He needed to get away from the phone.

"_…the sound flows, follow to the home..._"_  
_  
_Crap, I can't take much more of this._ But he couldn't even move his thumb to hang up. He was completely paralysed.

_"…dragged by the power of dreams…"_ The words echoed in his head painfully.

_The power of dreams…_

…_.of dreams…_

…_dreams…_

…_DREAMS._

"_ARGH!_"

And as suddenly as the pain had started, it had stopped.

"That power is yet unknown."

_That last line…_ It wasn't from the song; it was by a different voice. It was spoken...by a girl. It sounded like she was in a trance.

"Hey! Who's there?" Neku said urgently.

Silence.

"Can anyone hear me?"

"…I'm...here." The girl sounded tired, as if she had struggled to get just those few words out. "Are you...Neku...Sakuraba?"

"Yes," he answered immediately. "Who are you?"

"..."

"Who are you?"

"You…don't know…me?"

"No," he didn't recognise her voice at all, "I'm only going to ask one last time, _who are you_?"

"I...don't know."

Neku felt cold all of a sudden. He didn't know why but it was as if the temperature in the room just dropped. "You don't know? What do you mean?"

"I can't...remember." This was getting stranger by the minute. "I don't know...my name...or anything...about myself." This girl sounded like she had amnesia. Was she really the so-called 'contact' Joshua was talking about?

"Is there anyone else around you?"

"...No. I'm alone." Her voice cracked at the end. Neku knew what that was; the girl was scared.

"Okay. Could you tell me where you are? You're not in a hospital are you?"

"No...I don't know where I am."

Neku groaned. He wasn't getting any clues from this girl.

"I'm scared...it's...so dark."

_That's it._ "Hey you, tell me what's around you. We can figure out where you are from that." _  
_  
"There's...nothing here."

"Nothing?" He repeated. "What do you mean by nothing?"

"It's empty."

"So the room you're in is empty?"

"I'm not in...a room."

She couldn't be out on the streets, because those were definitely not empty at this time. He was sure there wasn't a place in the whole of Tokyo that could be empty. _If she's even _in _Tokyo. _She was definitely speaking Japanese so he assumed she was calling from somewhere in Japan. "Are you somewhere grassy or is the ground concrete?"

"No. No. No." Suddenly she doesn't sound tired anymore. More like desperate. "It's empty. There's nothing here. There's nothing beneath me or around me or above me. There's just me and this phone...and darkness."

_Darkness_. _Just darkness._ This was insanity. A place like that couldn't exist.

"Neku, are you still there?" The voice comes through, now quiet again. The girl seemed to have calmed down.

"I'm here," he confirmed.

"I think I remembered something."

Finally. This girl could finally give him a lead. "What is it?"

"If I tell you, don't be scared."

Neku couldn't think of why he'd be scared. "Okay."

"It came to me while you were asking me where I was. I remembered I was _somewhere_ before I was here, but I can't remember where and I can't remember anything else that happened before I was here except that there was pain and…" She paused in hesitation.

"What is it?"

"I think…after the pain…and it would make sense…ending up in this place…but…"

"_You're_ not making sense. Speak up."

"I'm not too sure about this myself but…Neku...am I still alive?"

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! Here's chapter two, on time as promised. I think it turned out quite nicely and I'm pretty happy about it ^-^ Oh, and I suppose I kind of left you on a cliff-hanger there. Haven't done that in a while (or at least it feels like I haven't). **

**Thanks to those who favourited/started following this story: **Eidorian999, Ennis Shibuya, Heiwa-Higurashi,ImagineBreaker13,InsanoCommander, Probableconfusion, RBPhones16, Rhyme13kh14Xion8, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, Vixen's Shadow, khheroxasoray **and** pants the musical

**And to those who reviewed: **Inita, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Tensei Kano **(thank you for your advice on descriptions!)**, Sunkist Angel, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, **and** khheroxasoray.

**And thanks to everyone who's read this chapter! Hope you enjoyed! :'D**

**P.S. Oh my gosh, my little introduction thing looks like a bird. Bird. Wind. Geddit? Even though that was completely coincidental…-sigh-**

* * *

**Chapter Three - Weight**

You know, you're not being the most comforting person at the moment...

_"Wanna come have lunch with me?"_

Also, can't you tell that I'm scared at the moment? Really, you need to work on your tact!

_"...you keep on saying that you're dead-"_

I didn't _ask_ to be in this situation, you know.

_"Is the fish okay now?"_

H-hey, you're not going to hang up, are you?


	3. Weight

**Sanctuary**

_It's everywhere._

_It's there when I close my eyes, and when I open them again, nothing changes._

_I feel light._

_Weightless._

_There's something missing. The sound is missing._

_All of the sound is missing._

_Where…am I?_

_Oh…I don't feel light anymore._

_I'm sinking._

_I call out to someone, anyone._

_Where am I?_

* * *

_"I think I remembered something."_

_Finally. This girl could finally give him a lead. "What is it?"_

_"If I tell you, don't be scared."_

_Neku couldn't think of why he'd be scared. "Okay."_

_"It came to me while you were asking me where I was. I remembered I was somewhere before I was here, but I can't remember where and I can't remember anything else that happened before I was here except that there was pain and…" She paused in hesitation._

_"What is it?"_

_"I think…after the pain…and it would make sense…ending up in this place…but…"_

_"You're not making sense. Speak up."_

_"I'm not too sure about this myself but…Neku...am I still alive?"_

* * *

**Chapter Three - Weight**

He hung up.

Nothing about that phone call made any sense. The girl had been going on about being around 'nothing' which was impossible, and then she asked him if she was alive. It was obviously a prank - you had to be alive to make a phone call.

_Right?_

He stared at the screen of his phone, innocently displaying the home-screen.

The girl _did_ sound extremely desperate and it didn't sound like she was joking either. If she was, that would have made her an extremely good actress.

Or it could have even been Joshua. The guy could freakin' fly, so who was to say he couldn't change his voice to sound like a girl's; he kind of looked like one anyway.

_But what if it isn't him? _A voice whispered at the back of his mind.

If it wasn't Joshua, then it had to be a girl with some serious mental problems, a girl that was lost and needed help.

Pushed on by a very faint sense of what might _possibly_ be guilt, Neku checked his recent calls list.

_[22.35] Unknown Number - 191143-20211-1825_

It didn't look like any typical Japanese phone number; it was too long and out of the typical pattern. It seemed too long to be from any country, as a matter of fact.

Which had to mean it came from...nowhere?

The gears turned in his mind. A phone call from nowhere meant that there was nothing there.

Crap, maybe the girl _was_ telling the truth.

He jammed down the re-dial key and lifted the phone back near his ear.

He was greeted by the noise of static. He tried again - same result.

This was just too bizarre from him. The phone number just didn't work, but that girl had just called him with it a few minutes ago. The only reason Neku could come up with why it wouldn't connect was that she had turned off her phone.

_If that's the case_, _then __fine, I don't really care what happens to you. I don't even know you._ He wasn't obliged to call anyone.

Neku flopped back onto his bed, pulling his soft, warm blanket over him, inviting him into the realm of sleep.

He quashed down his uneasiness by thinking, "_It could still have been Joshua. She didn't pick up anyway. She didn't make any sense._"

But as the sandman swept his gold dust over Neku, his mind wandered.

_What if she just ran out of battery?_

What if she's like Joshua, an 'angel' or something?

What if she really is dead?

xxxxx

He sat alone for lunch, of course. Many of his classmates had pushed their tables together (the table's dragging sound hurt his ears) and took out packed lunches to eat together, some in pairs, others in large groups; he was the only one not eating together with someone.

No one had invited him to join them today, which came as a welcome change from the week before, when his classmates had pestered him to join them, attempting to get him to socialise with them.

Neku knew it had to do with his outburst the day before; there was no point in trying to make friends with someone who didn't want any friends.

He was glad that they managed to figure out that he wanted to be left well alone.

Getting out his own packed lunched, Neku smiled inwardly at the sight of it.

Back when he was living with his relatives, he still preferred to do things for himself, even making his own lunch. Only, he realised that he wasn't much of a daily trials and errors and getting shouted at by his relatives for almost setting the house on fire, he finally managed to cook up a decent meal.

Fine, his pack lunched was just some _onigiri_ with a roll with spiced tuna. Hey, it took effort to make it, okay?

"Thanks for the food," he muttered quietly, putting his hands together for a moment before starting on his meal.

"There you are, Phones!"

_Really?_

He was trying to eat here.

Neku tried to ignore the idiot approaching him, but it was hard when he stood right next to his desk and started talking to him.

"Wanna come have lunch with me?"

"No," was the quick answer.

"C'mon! I eat on the roof an' the view there is wack," Beat urged him.

"I said, no." At the same time, he could hear more whispers emerge from all corners of the classroom.

"_Isn't that Dai-something Bito from class C?"_

"_What's he doing talking to Sakuraba? I swear Sakuraba was shouting at him yesterday."_

"_Maybe Sakuraba's getting money from him. I bet he wants money because he's a loner."_

"_No way, moron. Sakuraba's half of Bito's size. If anything, I'd say _Bito's _the one that's taking the money."_

"There ain't anyone but me an' Rhyme there," Beat said. Now _that_ caught his attention.

He glanced up out of the corner of his eyes to the grinning blond. Did he notice the leering mood that the classmates were giving Neku? Had he offered so that Neku wouldn't be feeling unease? Neku had been fine when everyone had outright raged at him, but this silent disapproval was way too familiar to..._no_, he didn't want to think about that.

His theory would make sense since it definitely seemed that Beat was getting the same crap. Maybe Beat was more observant than he looked...

"I'll go," Neku said suddenly, packing up his packed lunch and walking on ahead of Beat. Maybe this meant that he wasn't as dumb as Neku first thought he was. Besides, three people were a smaller number than nineteen others.

"Rhyme! Look who I've got," boomed the taller boy as they reached the top of the stairs and opened the door leading to the roof. Neku noticed the 'no entry' sign posted on the front of it. Noticed it, but ignored it.

The younger Bito looked up at her food, surprised at the sight of Neku. She was sitting on a white and red chequered piece of cloth, legs folded to the side beneath her.

Beat bounded towards her, sitting down across her and immediately stuffing his face with rice balls.

_There's no way that guy's observant_, Neku thought, _he just brought me because he felt like it. _Instead of joining them, he walked towards the steel railing lined the edges of the roof. Hm, guess the school knew people came up here and put them up so that idiots wouldn't fall off.

He sat down, crossing his legs and leaning his back against the cool, hard metal. Taking out his food again he resumed with his lunch.

He had put on his headphones, and started to listen to one of his favourite playlists, full of electronic music. Mostly to block out the sound of Beat's disgustingly loud eating habits.

_I __should eat here everyday_, he thought. His eyes felt back on the Bito pair. Beat seemed content that Neku had come up to the roof and Rhyme, though sneaking Neku curious looks every now and then, did not bother him after he arrived either.

That was fine with him, as long as they didn't bug Neku, he didn't mind too much eating up here with them.

At least he wouldn't have the feeling of people glaring daggers at him all the time.

xxxxx

The second call came while he had been making dinner.

_"Calling...someone is calling..."_

It wasn't 'Twister' but it still wasn't his ringtone.

He hit the answer button more frantically then he ever had done before. "Is anyone there?"

"Yes, I'm here," came the same voice as he had heard yesterday.

Neku felt a weight lift out of him. He hadn't really been thinking about the call much today, but he guessed it must have been nagging at him in some small corner of his mind; he wanted to know just _what_ was going on.

"I can't believe you hung up on me yesterday," the girl shouted through the phone, surprising him and making him wince. "I was scared to death there. Well maybe not death since I'm probably dead already."

"Keep your voice down," he said, starting to regret picking up. _What happened to Miss Sleepy?_

"Why? There's no one besides you who can hear me!"

"Seriously, where are you?"

"I told you yesterday, I don't know! I don't remember anything. There's nothing here except me and my phone and just...nothingness." Her voice turned small again.

"That's just not possible, how can you be in a place with nothing?"

"I don't know! I didn't ask to be here when I died."

There it was again. "...you keep on saying that you're dead-"

"- I _am_ dead," she insisted.

"How do you know?" Neku snapped at her, his patience wearing thin. "Because I swear, if this is some sort of prank- "

"No!" Neku was taken aback by the pure desperation suddenly in her voice. "You've got to believe me, Neku. I just...something's telling me I'm dead. I know that you think that it's impossible but please, believe me."

It still seemed crazy to Neku...but he hadn't imagined meeting an angel either. "Alright, I believe you." Or he partly did, anyway.

He could hear her let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, thanks Neku. Thank you."

"..." _Now what? _He turned to face the window as it began rattling suddenly. Huh. Windy night, he guessed. "Wait, how did you know?"

"Know what?"

"How did you know my name?" He had been wondering about it for a while now. "Did Joshua tell you?"

"Joshua...do I know a Joshua?" She sounded genuine while asking that question.

Meaning that although this was Joshua's intended 'contact' for Neku, she didn't actually know who he was. Or maybe he wiped her memory after he met her... Either way, in her present state she didn't know who he was.

"I'm not sure," Neku admitted. "You still haven't answered my question."

"Oh, right. I was all alone in the darkness...kinda just floating there. It's weird, I can float but I can also stand on this nothingness. I don't know how you can stand on nothing but I'm doing it. And I think...I think I fell asleep for a while..."

"Standing?"

"No, I was floating at that time! But that doesn't matter. When I woke up, there was a phone floating in front of me so I just took it." She paused. "I wonder how it got there..."

"Stick to the subject."

"Hold on, I'm getting to it. The phone was pretty much blank. There wasn't any service and even if there was I couldn't remember anyone to call. I checked the contacts and your name was there. I called, because I thought, 'hey, maybe he knows who I am!' But then you asked me who I was so..." Her voice trailed off.

"So what is that you want from me?" he questioned, getting to the real point.

"Huh? Nothing really. I just want someone to talk to," she said.

"That's it?"

She said back cheerfully, "That's it!"

Once he processed this information, it occurred to him - why again was he still talking to her? They didn't know each other and she didn't know that angel-guy so Neku didn't need to do anything to help with a favour that _she _didn't remember. He didn't even know if he could help her anyway, even if she remembered. She claimed she was dead, and if that was true, he couldn't really do anything about it.

"Whoever you are, I get that you're scared, but I'm kind of busy right now and - " The window started rattling again, though more vigorously. Okay, this was really starting to worry him. The sudden shaking just seemed so abnormal.

The window glass started to form cracks.

"Neku! Your food's going to burn!" Neku's attention was brought back to his previously forgotten dinner and it was true, his fish was on the verge of being overcooked. He put down his phone briefly, hurriedly removing the pan from the stove, switching off the gas.

That was a close one...any longer and it would've caught on fire.

"Is the fish okay now?" she asked as soon as his phone was back against his ear.

Neku gripped his phone tighter. "How the hell did you know I was cooking fish?"

"I just did."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"I mean, I just did. Look, I don't know how this whole being-dead thing works," she replied, sounding equally frustrated. "Maybe I've got ESP now or something."

"Or maybe you're really haunting me and can actually see me," Neku said, eyes shifting to each side. "If that's the case, please stop."

"I'm not haunting you," she said, sounding indignant.

"Then stop calling me." Using his free left-hand, Neku started getting out a plate from a cupboard and placing it on the counter.

"But you're the only one I can talk to..."

"Just key in some random number. I'm sure someone will pick up," he suggested, now taking out his cutlery.

"I tried that already! After you hung up yesterday, I tried that! Your number is the only one that works. I just want someone to talk to."

He pulled out a high chair and sat down, with his food ready in front of him. "I'm about to eat. Honestly, I could care less about some spirit who just wants to talk to me, so I'm going to hang up now."

The vigorous shaking of the flat's windows were now so strong that the cracks actually grew large enough that a piece of it fell down, causing a sharp shattering noise. _Damn, I've gotta get that fixed tomorrow..._

"Neku," said the girl in a voice that was unexpectedly calm. "You owe me."

Huh? "What exactly do I owe you?"

"I warned you so that your dinner wouldn't burn."

He looks down at the still-edible fish. "Yeah, but that's not really enough of a reason for me to talk to you."

"For all you know I might have saved your life! What if the fish burnt the building down?" Exaggerations.

"Is that really the best you can come up with?"

She didn't reply right away, but when she did it's unexpected. "You're right, I'm sorry." Another piece of glass shattered against the floor. "I shouldn't force myself on you. It was just a bit of wishful thinking, I guess."

"Wishful thinking?"

"Yeah." She chucked dryly. "Before I fell asleep that first time in the darkness, I wished that I wasn't alone anymore. I don't know how long I'd been there at that point, but it felt like forever. I wished for someone to talk to even more than wishing for my memories back. I felt so tired when I first talked to you, but after you hung up, I felt happy. Even if it you stopped our conversation, at least I knew that the number worked and I could talk to someone. A wish come true in a sense." She gave another weak laugh. "Oh well, maybe someone else's phone number will pop up later." In doubt, she muttered an almost inaudible, "If only…"

Neku had closed his eyes, head tilted upwards as he listened to her. A wish…

_'I guess…sometimes…I wish I _had _something to wish for…'_

He inhaled deeply then started to speak again. "You can call me again."

"...Neku?" Her voice sounded hopeful, but as if she was holding back, in case she heard wrong.

"I changed my mind," he told her firmly, opening his eyes to stare at the ceiling.

"Y-you did?" The pure relief in her voice made Neku uncomfortable about almost having cut off with a person that had sounded _that _much troubled before.

"You can call me _only_ if you really need to," he said, trying to draw a line. "Not all the time."

"Oh thank you Neku. This means so much to me. I promise I won't call too much. Maybe once a day! I mean, I think I can roughly tell when a day has passed. Like how I know it's night time now. Again, it's some weird ESP thing I think I developed. Haha, guess being dead does have its perks -"

"-and stop talking my ear off. Having an undead stalker is bad enough as it is."

"I'm not a stalker," she said, sounding insulted.

"What am I doing right now?"

"Sitting on a chair I think - wait - no! That's a trick, isn't it? I mean..."

"See? You know exactly what I'm doing. Sounds pretty stalker-ish to me."

"H-hey!"

"In fact, why don't I call you 'Stalker' from now on. Since I don't know your actual name and all." It seemed perfectly reasonable to him but she still protested for at least the next five minutes.

"I really do have to eat now," he informed her after a while.

"Oh, right, okay! I'll talk to you tomorrow..." She hesitated. "Promise?"

"Yeah, yeah, I promise," he said, rolling his eyes as he picked up some rice with his chopsticks.

"Great! Goodnight Neku!" This time it was Stalker who ended the call, and Neku didn't feel that strange heavy feeling he had got from the last time they stopped talking.

Neku shook his head, still not sure what he had gotten into. _Shibuya must be making making me soft_. It was then that his eyes focused back to his window and widened.

The window was back in perfect condition, as if nothing had ever happened to it.

Xxxxx

_Plop. _That was the sound that Neku's coin made when it fell into the Miyashita Park fountain. There were no flashing lights this time and no freaky-ass 'Angel' that appeared and gave his number to Stalker. He repeated this a few more times, until he realised that he would probably go broke if he kept this up. Also, he was starting to get strange looks from the other people in the park.

Why was he doing this, again? Oh right, he wanted to talk to Joshua to ask him why Joshua put _him _in contact with the dead girl. His window had started cracking when he was thinking of refusing to speak to her again, but when he finally agreed, it had repaired itself. That was definitely not something normal, and Neku blamed anything that wasn't on him.

Putting aside self-repairing windows, if the purpose of this whole thing was for Stalker to have someone to talk to, why the hell did Joshua pick him? He didn't _talk_ to people. It wasn't his thing.

_That day, didn't he say something about a wish? _Maybe Neku had to make another wish.

He rummaged through his pocket and found the last coin he had on him that day.

_A hundredth time lucky, hopefully. _It hadn't been a hundred coins but it had been a hell of a lot of coins. _I wish for…er, for uh…_crap he already flipped up the coin, and it was too late to catch it…_a…a…_his eyes looked frantically for something around the park…_a cat!_

_Plop! _Neku groaned out loud. Flipping it before thinking of a wish was a stupid move. The damage was done though, so all he could do was wait.

And wait.

And wait a little longer.

And then wait some more - oh screw it, Joshua was not going to show up.

Neku narrowed his eyes at the black cat that was curled up on the park bench, as if it was its fault that Joshua hadn't appeared. He stretched up his arms, stiff from just standing around for so long. He better head back home; he hadn't really been planning to come here this afternoon but had decided to come back here again on his way back from school, though obviously it had been a complete waste of his time.

"_Look out_!"

Too late. The lanky teen found himself being hurled head-first towards the fountain, and landed with a painful splash. Not only was the water freezing cold, but now his school uniform was wet and that meant that he'd have to wash them _tonight_ instead of tomorrow.

What the hell had hit him anyway?

He slowly rose from his knees onto his two feet and send glares at his unfortunate-attacker.

_Of course._

The skull hat was unmistakable and neither was the annoying tone that the boy used to try to apologise to him.

"Sorry 'bout that. Lost control of my skateboard for a sec. You 'kay?"

"…if I have a cold tomorrow it's going to be your fault," said Neku, barely containing how pissed off he was at the moment.

"Don't say that, yous really gonna get sick if you do," Beat replied with a frown, as Neku stepped out of the fountain.

"Just stay away from me." Neku shoved his hands back into his pockets, not caring if they were wet.

"Man, I feel real bad. Yo, how 'bout I treat you to some dinner?"

"No thanks_."_

"I told you 'bout the ramen, didn't I? It's the best 'round here."

"I'm okay, really."

"I'm tellin' you. You ain't have lived 'till you tried the ramen at –"

"_Beat! _Where are you? Something's happened!" A voice that Neku vaguely recognised as Rhyme's called out from a distance away.

"What? Rhyme? Somethin' happened to Rhyme!"

This was his lucky break, finally. With Beat distracted, he could get away. He quickly started to walk in the opposite direction from Rhyme's voice. "Well, I'll be going now –"

"C'mon, you're comin' with me!"

Before Neku could so much as open his mouth to resist, Beat pulled him by his arm, reducing him to something akin to a rag-doll. _I should have known, _he thought bitterly.

Shibuya was _never_ going to give him a break.

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! Woohoo, I'm on time again. Being on time is a big thing for me xD Well it _would_ be on time, since I always have the next chapter written up before posting the present chapter. That way, if I'm ever too busy during the month, I'll have that period of time where I have a chapter ready in waiting.**

**Thanks to those who favourited/started following this story in the last chapter: **B.A.G-GOMEZ, Coalacious, mariposablossom, stealthclaw, Airhead259, BlazingKaiogra , Kiomori, Symphonic Demon , PatrickL, ToTheSkye **and**, Witch of Tragedies.

**And to those who reviewed:** Leige of the Crimson Nightmare, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Airhead259, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, Tensei Kano, Chronic Guardian. **Thanks to those of you who give me criticism on my work, it really does help me.**

**To my anonymous reviewers:**

Guest** - Thank you very much :'D I update regularly so don't worry.**

Blue blue blue** - To be honest I don't really think about my pacing all too much, but I'm a bit more aware of it now, so thank you. Also, I do try my best to keep them close to their original characters.**

**And also thank you to my silent and invisible readers. I do like to look at my traffic graph (I like statistics) so I know you're there! (Or you guys are just reading this many times, which is just as cool). Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Edit: Thanks to** Shinra-ex-Soldier** who pointed up some mistakes I made with the timeline. It should be fixed now. (9/3/2013)**

* * *

**Chapter Four - Ramen**

Yo, I'm real sorry 'bout that, man.

_"No worries. I gots this."_

But we've gotta check out what's up with Rhyme.

_"Read the signs, boy. It's Telepathic Thursday."_

An' then we've gotta go get that ramen that I was talkin' 'bout.

_"Some things aren't meant to be told."_

Bwaaah! I didn't know you knew him, shoulda' told me, Phones.


	4. Ramen

**Sanctuary**

_It ain't easy._

_Nothin' is ever easy for me._

_I just don't get stuff. If I gotta think about it for too long, it messes up my brain._

_I don' gotta think if I'm ridin'._

_I just push myself and then I'm gone._

_But it still ain't easy._

* * *

_"Beat! Where are you? Something's happened!" A voice that Neku vaguely recognised as Rhyme's called out from a distance away._

_"What? Rhyme? Somethin' happened to Rhyme!"_

_This was his lucky break, finally. With Beat distracted, he could get away. He quickly started to walk in the opposite direction from Rhyme's voice. "Well, I'll be going now –"_

_"C'mon, you're comin' with me!"_

_Before Neku could so much as open his mouth to resist, Beat pulled him by his arm, reducing him to something akin to a rag-doll._ I should have known_, he thought bitterly._

_Shibuya was _never _going to give him a break._

* * *

**Chapter Four - Ramen**

The younger Bito was staring up at a tree, with a very perplexed look on her face, when Beat and Neku had finally reached her. Instead of her beanie, she was wearing a black helmet, though it too had a silvery skull design printed on it. _The Bito family must seriously love skulls…_

"What's goin' on Rhyme? Who did it?" Beat asked hurriedly, looking around and taking a battle-ready stance, which Neku thought looked childish.

"No one did anything Beat. It's just," she pointed up towards the branches of the tree, "my skateboard got stuck in the tree."

As far as Neku knew, the words 'skateboard' and 'a tree' _could _fit in a sentence together as long as it did not have the words 'stuck in' in between them . His eyes weren't lying though, and there was definitely an orange and black-surfaced skateboard wedged between the branches of the tree. "How did that get up there?"

Rhyme seemed to just have noticed him. "Hello, Neku. I'm not really sure what happened, to be honest. One minute, I was trying to flip the board while moving, like Beat always does, and the next I slipped and fell. I suppose that I was going too fast and the skateboard somehow gained the trajectory to fly towards the tree."

_Trajectory? I'm no genius at physics but that seems kinda impossible. _Unless she was moving at an inhumanly high-speed the likelihood of her skateboard ending up _that _high was near zero.

Although, perhaps Neku needed to stop thinking about the likelihood of _anything _considering how the past few days had been going.

"No worries. I gots this," Beat declared, dropping his own skateboard and rushing towards the tree and grabbing hold of either side of it, around the trunk; he was attempting to climb it. He got about half way before losing his hold and sliding all the way down the bottom. "Shit, that hurt."

It did look like it hurt. And it looked really funny - funny enough for Neku to let out a snort.

Beat seemed to have heard him. "Oh yeah, why donchu try climbing it?" he challenged.

"If you haven't noticed, my clothes are soaked because of _someone_ and I haven't climbed a tree since I was a kid." He made a point of gesturing to his white uniform shirt that still had water dripping down off it.

"I already said I'm sorry, yo. 'Sides, it's Rhyme's skateboard an' she ain't done nothin' to you." He walked behind Neku and pushed him towards the tree.

"Hey, watch it," Neku warned.

The taller boy crossed his arms and looked down on him, his eyes shaded by his beanie. It didn't look like he was going to move even an inch until Neku agreed to climb the tree. As he thought that Beat could _possibly_ resort to violence if Neku didn't do what he wanted, he decided that he should just get on with it. Moving swiftly, he had reached the branch in less than a minute, grabbed the damned thing and was back down in less than two.

"_Woah_, Phones. How'd you do that?" Beat scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, that was amazing. You kind of looked like a cat there," Rhyme chirped as Neku stretched out his arms to hand the skateboard back her. "Thank you so much."

"It was nothing," he said tonelessly. "If that's it, then I'm going home now." He tried to escape for the second time of the day, but Beat barred his way again.

"No way! After this I _gotta _treat you to some ramen," Beat insisted.

"That's a great idea. 'It is thankful people who are happy', and we'd be happy if you'd come with us for some dinner," said Rhyme.

He didn't really get what the big deal was. It wasn't like Rhyme had been in any real trouble and she only needed a little bit of help. He was tempted to tell them that he could care less if they remained unhappy for the rest of their lives, but a thought struck him.

This would be one night of free food and Neku wouldn't have to cook for himself for once. Then he wouldn't need to worry about buying more food for tomorrow. Although he had sufficient money to keep him going until the end of the month, he wasn't sure yet how punctual his uncle would be in delivering his spending money, so he had to save up some, just in case.

"I'll take you up on that offer. I still have to go home to change though, so I'll meet you there at around six," said Neku. "Where is this ramen place anyway?"

"Dogenzaka."

_Oh._ Maybe Neku needed to say no after all. He had tried to avoid that place and it had been successful so far since he didn't really need to go anywhere that had to go through Dogenzaka. He wasn't too fond about that place, to say the least.

"What's up, Phones?" Beat asked whilst Neku had been gazing into empty space.

"Nothing." Yeah, it didn't matter. Dogenzaka was still a suspicious place, especially at night, but Neku was old enough to look out for himself.

"Are your parents going to let Rhyme go to a place like that?" Rhyme was small enough to be mistaken for a middle-school student - no - make that an elementary-school student, after all, so he wasn't sure if she was safe to go into that area yet.

"It's cool, yo. My folks are fine with it," he said. _Oh? _What Beat said had seemed kind of forced.

"We go to that ramen shop all the time," Rhyme added. That was strange; Beat seemed tense when saying that, but Rhyme had said it very naturally. _Hmm._ He would wonder more about it later…if he could be bothered to.

"If you say so," said Neku. He tugged at his flopped down hair. He would definitely need to wash it thoroughly. Who knew how dirty the fountain water might have been? His hands then touched upon the headphones that were hanging on his neck. If they were broken, he was seriously going to make Beat pay for it. "I'm going back to my flat and I'll meet you there if I'm still up to it."

"If you don't show, I'll pound you!" Neku sincerely hoped that Beat was joking.

With his damp clothes sucking the heat out of him, he was relieved to finally be heading back to the flat for a moment.

xxxxx

The sun was starting to set, and red painted the sky behind the tall buildings in the Dogenzaka area. Neon-lights started to flicker to life as the flow of people continued to travel up and down the street. By now, Neku had changed into a fresh set of clothes, all bought from J&M, of course and his hair was almost completely dry again.

Neku noted, in slight disgust, how there seemed to be more couples in this area than usual and everyone knew what _they _were here for. If the signs decorated with faded hearts and a picture of a fancy-looking bed wasn't clue enough, the intense public displays of affection already going on in the street across him were.

_Can't they wait until everyone else has, well, _left_? _Again, Neku questioned the thinking of bringing Rhyme here. He supposed, though, that if anything were to happen, Beat looked tough enough to be able to protect her. Judging from the way he had ran to her side earlier, he must really be protective of her.

As the Bito siblings arrived, they looked as unaffected by their surroundings as ever, and quickly ushered Neku into the restaurant, as if being in the restaurant would prevent him from leaving if he suddenly changed his mind again. Walking past the red-lit sign 'Ramen-Don', they entered into a cosy, but fairly filled-up place with a traditional Japanese olden-day décor. They settled down on the stools just in front of the counter, with Beat seated on the stool between Neku and Rhyme.

The smell of traditional Japanese ramen filled his nose and the steam of the soup could be seen rising out of the wok from behind the counter, where the head-chef was cooking. Though there were other employees in the shop, he was obviously the master of the kitchen. It wasn't particularly that he looked like the part, what with the rounded-glasses and white bandanna around his head, but the aura he gave out when he was preparing the meal.

He whipped around and was instantly facing the three of them and placing three bowls of ramen on their place-mats. "Welcome! Enjoy the meal!"

"Thanks!" Beat looked about ready to swallow the meal whole but Neku interrupted him.

"Hold on a second. We haven't even ordered yet. Why'd you bring this to us?"

The chef peered down at him from behind his glasses. "Read the signs, boy. It's Telepathic Thursday."

"That doesn't mean anything to me," Neku said, raising an eyebrow.

"It's like this, yo. We all get food from the master chef on Thursday 'cause he's got physics powers to read our mind. He picks the food and cooks it and then we eat it." Although it was a poor explanation (it was 'psychic' not 'physics', Beat), Neku got the gist of it. "Oh! An' it's always your favourite type of ramen, you dig? "Cause the Old Man can tell just by looking at you what kinda ramen you're into."

"I doubt that you can just guess what someone likes to eat just by looking at them," scoffed Neku.

"Ah, kids these days. So rude. In my day our parents could beat you around the head for that. Well, I doubt your dad would have, even if it was back then. He had always been a softy." The chef started laughing heartily.

"My dad? You knew my dad?" Neku asked, startled.

"Eh? 'Course I did. You're Sakuraba's kid, aren't you? Heard that you were back in Shibuya," the chef crossed his arms. "Guess you don't remember me, but I recognised you right away. Your hairstyle has become even wilder than before. You used to come to my stall when you were younger, the one that was on Cat Street."

"Mr. Doi." Neku recalled, vaguely. "Ken Doi. Thought you went out of the ramen business when I was still a kid."

"I did not go out of business," Ken Doi corrected indignantly. "I took a break and went into the toy-business for a while. But ramen is my true passion. Ramen is food for real men, and so this place was born!"

"Mr. Doi opened and started renting the place just over a year ago," said Rhyme. "It was an instant hit with everyone, because it's the best ramen around."

"Ah you flatter me too much, Miss Bito!" He glanced at the watch on his wrist. "No more time to chat. Other dishes are calling to me." In the blink of the eye, he was off to serve another customer.

Neku looked down at his dinner. He had distant memories of Ken Doi's food being great, but the man wasn't kidding about predicting his favourite type of ramen. Just the smell of it was overwhelmingly good, and Neku could tell without tasting it yet that it would be a good meal. He was glad that it was Beat who was going to pay for it.

Speaking of Beat, the other boy had started eating while Neku was in conversation with Mr. Doi. _That _was rude if you asked Neku. At least Rhyme had the decency to wait before starting to eat. They both put their hands together and muttered the usual "thanks for the food" over Beat's loud slurping.

They didn't speak to each other for awhile, but since Beat had finished first he started a conversation. Of course, Neku had hoped that Beat wouldn't feel the need to converse. Key word: hoped.

"Ain't chu from Hokkaido? How come you know Old Man Doi?" Beat asked. At the same time he was eyeing Neku's bowl of ramen which he was going through at a steady pace. Neku had to grudgingly admit, that it really was the best bowl of Shio ramen he had ever tasted.

"I used to live here," he answered shortly.

"In Shibuya?"

"Yeah."

"Why'd you move to Hokkaido?"

"I don't have to answer that." He didn't want to, either. He was here to eat ramen for free, nothing else.

Beat blinked, and then he scratched the back of his head. "That's cool."

That was easier than he thought it would be. First Beat was the most persistent person in the entire universe, and then he managed to let go of a question on the first attempt. Neku didn't get what that guy was thinking, which was probably for the best, since Neku didn't really want much to do with him.

"Some things aren't meant to be told," Rhyme said quietly from beside Beat. Neku was starting to feel a bit weird about how Rhyme churned out all these very-fitting sayings.

The rest of the meal went on with Neku not saying much, and Beat rambling on to both him and Rhyme about things such as how his Maths teacher was giving him crap for not finishing the homework. "I don't get the whole 'x' thing. 'X' ain't a number, it's a damn letter!" This kind of atmosphere was starting to feel familiar; the relaxed mood and the constant smell of ramen…Neku didn't like it.

"I'm going to leave now," he announced, getting up.

"Already? It's only around seven, man," Beat said.

"Yeah, well I've got things to do." _Like putting the clothes you got wet into the washing machine._ There was also, of course, that essay he got during Japanese today. "See ya."

"I gotcha. See you at lunch tomorrow, yo!"

Neku raised his hand in back as a gesture of acknowledgement and goodbye. He had a feeling that Beat and Rhyme weren't going to just leave him alone, no matter what he wanted.

xxxxx

"_The sky above changes its colour, from dawn till dusk I wonder why…"_

Neku answered the phone call from Stalker while he was watching the TV. He expected her call this time and there was no tense feeling of what unexpected thing could come from answering his phone.

"Good evening, Neku!" The greeting was said cheerfully from the other end of the line.

"Hello, Stalker."

"Like I've already said, I'm not a –"

"Yeah, yeah, you're not a stalker. Even so, you're still 'Stalker'," said Neku, switching the channels at the same time.

"That's just so stupid. You can't just name people whatever you want. Wait, you know what? It's fine. I don't remember my name anyway so it doesn't matter," Stalker said.

"…" Neku yawned. He was more tired than usual, for some reason. Good thing he'd managed to get all his homework done as well as wash his clothes. He managed to take another, long, warm shower and wash his hair again; he didn't think he had gotten rid of the dirt the first time around. Right now, his hair was still flat down but this time it was from being washed with fragrant shampoo instead of stinky fountain-water. He was sitting down on his sofa, with a towel on his shoulders to prevent his night-clothes from getting wet.

_Don't eat that, you idiot, you're going to get food poisoning. _He was watching one of those game-shows where people did stupid things so they could get a chance of winning a ridiculous amount of money.

"I think he should have climbed the wall instead," commented Stalker. "That guy looks fat but I'm sure even he could manage a wall that's only that tall."

Neku frowned. "I'd ask how you're watching the TV at the same time as me yet _not _be stalking me in my room, but you're just going to say 'you just know'."

"What else am I supposed to say? It's the truth! I just know." _Again with the things that don't make sense._

"Out of curiosity, how much do you 'just know'?" Neku experimentally waved three fingers in the air. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"…You're just going to say something mean if I tell you."

"Why would I do that?" he asked rhetorically. "...So? What's your answer?"

He heard her sigh. "Three fingers."

"Alright, there is _no way_ you can know that and not see me," he said, he swatted the air to his right. "You're sitting beside me somewhere, aren't you?"

"That _was_ mean. Geez, Neku, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm not stalking you. It's just that I can somehow feel whatever you're seeing and hearing. Only sometimes, though. And maybe even sometimes your thoughts. I'm not quite sure about it myself but I think that's why I know what you're doing."

"That's even creepier. That makes you a _mind_-stalker."

"Ugh, will you, like, cut it out?"

"It's funny how you can know what I'm doing yet you can't remember anything about yourself," he stated, ignoring the last thing she said.

"If it'd make you feel better, I'd rather have my memories back than know what you're doing," she offered. "Oh, but after you hung up, I think I remembered a few tiny things."

Neku wasn't going to ask what she remembered, but she told him anyway. "I remembered that I'm from Shibuya. While you were going around Shibuya today, I suddenly had the feeling that this was where I came from. I picked up a few images and they all feel familiar. I don't really recognise them much, but I can kinda feel that I _should_ know the places. I'm not a smart person, but I figured that if I know the places then I must have died not too long ago. I'm still not sure how or exactly when, but the thought 'not too long ago' keeps coming back." She paused. "…Neku?"

"Hm? Did you want something?"

"Were you even listening to me?" Stalker yelled in his ear.

Neku winced at the sound. "Not really, but you don't have to shout at me." Admittedly, he had been only half-listening to what she had to say. His eyes had been glued to the TV screen and his attention had been won by the elderly contestant who was attempting to get through a physically-demanding looking obstacle course.

"I don't know _how _you managed to make friends with that guy, Beat, I think, with an attitude like that," she huffed.

"It sounds like you weren't paying attention the whole time, or you'd realize that I'm not friends with that guy."

"Really? He seemed like he was really close to you."

"Well, he's not. He must think is or something, because he keeps on talking to me."

"Oh, well don't worry about it. You had lunch as well as dinner with him today. That would count as a step towards making him your friend."

"You don't get it. I don't _want _to be friends with him. It's been four days since the start of school and I've already had enough of him for a lifetime."

"But the only people I sensed that you talked to today were him, his sister and that ramen-guy. You've just moved schools, right? I think Beat mentioned it. Don't you want to make some friends?"

"No. I don't need any."

That seemed to surprise Stalker, since she didn't say anything for a little while.

"Everyone needs friends," she said, finally.

"Then that makes everyone but me."

"But who else would you hang out with? And go to clubs with, and each lunch with, and –"

"No one. I'm not interested and I'm cool with doing it solo."

Another pause.

"You can't tell me that you've never ever wanted a friend in your life. I'm not going to believe that," she said adamantly.

"Don't put words up in my mouth. I didn't say that I've' never ever' even once wanted a friend before. But even if I wanted one before, it was a long time ago," said Neku while unwillingly recollecting a few old memories.

'_Don't feel too bad. You'll definitely score next time.'_

'_Of course he will! I know! I'll whip you both up some cookies to cheer you up.'_

'_You really don't have to do that for me…I just need to work harder.'_

'_You should listen to yourself, you sound almost dead. Relax! C'mon! Let's go already, I'm starving. Forget cookies, let's grab ourselves some ramen.'_

He shook his head, shaking the memories off at the same time. Damn…he somehow said too much to her. "What do you know anyway? You should be worrying about yourself. You might not have any friends either, but unlike me, you seem to care about having friends."

"W-what? Of course I have friends!"

"Do you remember them?"

"I – no – I mean, that's just…" He knew he hit a nerve, and had successfully turned her attention away from him.

"If 'friends' are that important to you, then you should be able to remember yours, shouldn't you?"

"…"

"…"

"…I think...I need some time to think. I-I'll talk to you tomorrow, Neku. Bye."

She hung up instantly after that, leaving Neku with a grim sort of smile. He hoped he hadn't shaken her up too much, or he would probably get another earful when she next called.

In any case, he was glad that she stopped talking when she did; he was starting to feel tired.

Ironically enough, the last thing Neku saw before he fell asleep on his sofa was a scene of the old man on TV who had just completed the obstacle course and was dedicating his win to all his old school-friends who were no longer with him.

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! Welp, we learn a little bit more about Neku this chapter. I've been getting reviews that are saying that I'm doing alright with characterisation, which I'm pleased about. If I ever go _too _OOC, even with regard of the situations they're in, please tell me, because I really want to try to have at certain degree of the original essence of their characters****.**

** Also, I'm glad you guys are liking this even if some of you don't usually like Highschool-AU fics (or so I am told). To be truthful, when I first thought up this fic it was more of the supernatural things that came to mind, rather than it being about them in school. I had a hard time deciding whether to put them in the last year of middle school or in the first year of high-school but eventually I settled for Neku and Beat being second-years, since that was the only way I could see the plot working out after planning it out properly. In fact I was actually kind of confused by it being called a Highschool AU, and then I was like - '...oh...-looks at plot plan and chapters already posted- ...this _is _a Highschool AU, isn't it? -facepalm-'. So hopefully my writing will get better since I actually know what category my fic is generally classified as. **

**Thanks to those who favourited/started following this story in the last chapter: **Faliara**, **Rukaru Hika Bondkeeper, Symphonic Demon, Forever-Rose09, **and **k-kerning.

**And to those who reviewed:** Leige of the Crimson Nightmare, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, Symphonic Demon, Forever-Rose09, k-kerning. **  
**

**To my anonymous reviewer:**

Cheyenne **- Hehe, I'm glad that you're liking this fic 8D**

**That's all for today! The day after I post this, I'm off to Berlin for a school trip and hopefully I'll still be able to get online to reply to any feedback before or during the trip. Happy Easter holidays (for those who have them...and don't have to study for their IGCSEs like me ;-;).**

**22/3/2013**

* * *

**Chapter Five - Skill**

Thank you so much for getting my skateboard down!

_"Oh? And I suppose _you _know what's going on with him."_

I know you don't like us all that much, but I still appreciate.

_"Yeah, well for once, you're actually right."_

I think you could be a pretty nice person if you wanted to be.

_"What makes for the best dish is not just the ingredients, but the way they blend together."_

Actions speak louder than words, after all.


	5. Skill

**Sanctuary**

_It's strange._

_Every day I notice it more and more._

_The wind – it seems to follow me._

_Or am I pulling it along?_

_I don't know which it is._

_The wind is always silent when it is with me._

_They say silence is golden._

_With the wind, I don't see gold._

_I see black._

* * *

**Chapter Five - Skill**

He had come to terms with having lunch with the Bito siblings. A meal a day was the only time he would really see them. That was what he thought, so he hadn't expected Beat to come into his classroom at the end of the day, with Rhyme by his side, demanding that Neku sit with his sister on the train ride back to central Shibuya.

Neku was in the middle of packing away his notebooks into his briefcase. He spared Beat a quick glance as he searched his desk for his maths textbook. "Why's that?"

"I've got soccer tryouts today and I'm gonna catch the later train. The thing is that Rhyme's gotta get home on _this_ train…"

Rhyme gave him an adamant look at his words. "I want to watch the tryouts, Beat. I can cheer you on."

"No ways. Mum an' Dad would flip if ya ain't back on time."

"That goes the same way for you," she argued.

At this Beat frowned the same way he had yesterday. "They don't care what happens to me 'nymore, unless they get to shout at me 'cause of it."

"That's not true," Rhyme insisted.

So that was it. Beat had some kind of issues with his parents, while Rhyme didn't seem to be having the same problems. Neku himself hadn't had parents long enough for any sort of rifts to come between them, but he could definitely relate to adults disapproving of him. "Hey Rhyme, I'll bring you back home."

The younger blond was startled that Neku was actually addressing her. Beat took this chance to dash away before Rhyme could come up with any more reasons why he should let her stay and watch him. "There he goes."

Neku finished packing his briefcase and held it over his shoulder, walking past Rhyme. He only stopped to turn at the doorway. "Are you still coming?"

Rhyme sighed. "Yes, I'm coming."

From the way she hung her head as they made their way to Ebisu Station, it was apparent that she wasn't all too happy with the situation Beat had left her in.

_Not my problem…_He was accompanying her back home as requested, and then he could have a relaxing afternoon free of – wait, where did she go?

He had taken his eyes of her for only a moment and she was off, running back towards the school. He didn't really want to follow her all the way back; but dammit, he was not going to risk getting a 'pounding' from Beat the next day, so he sprinted after her. _For a tiny girl, she sure has a lot of stamina,_ Neku thought, as they arrived at the back of the school grounds where the soccer pitch was located.

Rhyme was standing at the edge of the small slope that led down the pitch, waving at Beat who gave her a confused look and then shooting Neku a glare. The teen just shrugged because, really, he did actually try to take her back. That was something considerable, since he didn't do favours for anyone. He checked his watch and, of course, he had missed the train back to Shibuya. He'd have to wait with Beat and Rhyme for the next one. His eyes flickered up to where Rhyme was standing. _Might as well watch the tryouts…_

Neku walked up so that he was standing next to Rhyme, looking down at around fifteen or so teens that had showed up for the try-outs it seemed that soccer was a pretty popular sport here. Beat was standing amongst a group of people who were huddled together to the left side of the pitch, while on the right side were the actual members of the soccer team – eight boys varying in size and looks, kicking a ball lazily around. What really caught his attention, though, was the coach. The guy looked like a giant and had some weird looking dreadlocks. He did not quite look just right with shorts and a red sports shirt.

"I am Coach Higashizawa, and you all will refer to me as such. As you all know," he said, starting his introduction speech, "Ebisu High has been famed for having one of Tokyo's finest soccer teams." _Really? First I've heard of it… _"Unfortunately last year's tournament left us with a bitter taste in our mouth and we got knocked out in the first round." _That's lame. _"However, I'm confident that we will be able to cook up the perfect combination of players this year. A lot of the team were third years and they've left, so we've only got eight members in our current team. Throughout today's tryout you will be tested and I will choose another eight new players to join the team."

The moment he announced the number of places, the atmosphere between the boys standing in the huddle intensified, as they all regarded each other as rivals.

"Since there are twenty two of you, including the members of the team here today, it makes it easier for us, as we can play a full game – eleven versus eleven," said the coach, counting off the players. "The best way to show off your skills is through actual game play."

The coach then proceeded to split the group in half, with each side having four of the actual members of the club in their team. Beat was in the team wearing blue bibs over their white sports shirts. He gave Rhyme and Neku a quick wave, having forgotten to still be angry at Neku, and ran off to the pitch as the coach blew the whistle for the game to start.

"Good luck Beat!" she encouraged, cupping her hands around her mouth.

"_Happy-go-lucky, yo, here I am, I'm not a yuppie or puppy, yeah, hear me roar…" _Crap. Stalker had never called him when he wasn't at home. Rhyme was too occupied with watching the game to notice that his phone was ringing, so he answered the call.

"You're early today," he said. All of the times she had called him previously had been much later in the evening.

"Yeah…I just couldn't wait until any later," she admitted. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

"…what happened yesterday?" He slowly edged away from where Rhyme was standing, so that he was out of her ear-shot; he didn't want her overhearing him talking to someone.

"You know…I was telling you that you needed to make friends and then you got all snappy with me."

"Right, that's what we were talking about yesterday. It's good to hear you apologising, because whether I have friends or not is really none of your business."

"Y-you jerk! You should be apologising too!"

"I don't see why."

"Think about it! I was just trying to be helpful, you know? I'm a lonely girl stuck in the middle of nowhere, stuck in isolation with no one to talk to save you, and when I finally do get to call you, all you have to say is something that kept me awake all night," she said in a rush of words. "I just _know _that having friends is really important. So I _must _have friends, or I wouldn't think that was true. But then you pointed out that I couldn't remember them and that just makes me feel really…well, sad."

_She's really trying to play the sympathy card…_Unfortunately for her that wasn't going to work with him. "Whatever. You're just trying to ignore the fact that what I said was completely possible. Maybe you think it's so important because you _want _friends but don't actually have any."

"I _do _have friends," she insisted with a 'hmph'.

"Yeah, yeah, you can tell me all about them when you remember them," said Neku, making it clear how much he doubted that she had any. _Really, she's so noisy that she probably scared everyone away._

"Fine, I will!" Another 'hmph'.

"…You really will, won't you?" _I don't actually want her to… _"I take it back. You can believe that you have friends as long as you keep it to yourself and stop preaching to me."

"Oh, _fine._ Can we please talk about something else?" Huh, she made it sound as if _he _was the one who wanted to talk to her.

"You can talk to me about something else but I can't guarantee that I'm going to be listening to you," he replied. He took the momentary pause she held as an opportunity to bring his attention to the game that was going on.

Beat didn't look like he was doing too well. He was one of the biggest players on the field, even when you took into consideration the third years that were on the field as well, but he wasn't exactly too co-ordinated with his dribbling. A person also wearing a blue bib had passed the ball to him and he managed to stop it, but when he tried to kick it while running, he was too slow and a person from the other team managed to steal the ball from him.

"Oh, tough luck Beat! You can do it next time," Shiki's voice called out after a while, seeming to have recovered from the last part of their conversation.

_Great, she's watching the game through my mind. Thanks for asking permission. _"He can't hear you. You do realise that, don't you?"

"I _know_," she said. "Unheard support works just as well. In fact, since I'm a spirit or something, it should technically work better." He wondered what sort of reasoning she was using…

"Well, it's not going to help him in any way, since luck isn't his problem."

"Oh? And I suppose _you_ know what's going on with him."

"Yes, actually, I do."

"Well?"

Neku's eyes followed Beat's figure as he tried to tackle the person on the other side with the ball. "First off, his footwork is terrible. His feet are all over the place." It did look like Beat was not far from tripping over himself. "He's not using his right side to try to tackle, so when he tried to do that slide, of course he'd completely miss."

"…"

"…"

"Oh! I was nodding, but you can't see me…so um," Stalker tried to brush off her mistake, "what else is he doing wrong?"

"He knows that his footwork is off."

"He does?" She sounded surprised.

"Yes, and that leads to the second thing that he's doing wrong. He lacks confidence."

The boy somehow managed to gain possession of the ball again, only to lose it seconds later.

"See that? He was looking down at his feet while he was dribbling. He knows that he can't keep up with his technique, and he's trying to make it better, but he's only making it worse since he's leaving himself open to tackles. The other players can tell that he's not going to see them coming, so despite his size, they won't be afraid to go for him."

Stalker never failed to puzzle him, because the next thing she did was giggle.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing…it's just…that you don't talk a lot, but you sounded really into that commentary of yours."

"Hm."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I was just a little surprised," she said hurriedly. "It's kind of impressive how you could catch all that."

"Flattery isn't going to get you on my good side."

"I wasn't trying to flatter you. I was just thinking that you kind of remind me of myself."

That caught him off guard. He couldn't see how in any way he and Stalker could be similar. "I don't get you."

"Well…I'm usually a quiet person. I'm not…I'm not really good at talking to new people."

Neku snorted and then almost laughed. "You? Quiet? Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"It's true though. Or at least, that's what came to my mind when you were talking. I think that was me remembering how I might have acted back when I was alive."

"That just contradicts the fact that you've done nothing but chatter endlessly to me for the past few days."

"I-I don't know. Maybe it's because you're the only person I _can _talk to. And since you can't talk to me for all that long I just feel like I have to say what I can before you hang up," she said. "The point is that I remembered that I don't _usually_ talk a lot unless it's about something that I'm really passionate about and I thought that maybe it might be the same for you. I-I know I could be wrong, but, do you – or did you used to – like soccer?"

She…sounded really honest just then. When talking about being a quiet person she had, perhaps unconsciously from what Neku could tell, toned down her voice. Maybe dying was what had brought out a more talkative side to her, if he was to believe what she said.

_Well, it can't hurt to tell her. _"Yeah, for once you're actually right. I used to like to play soccer. I would sometimes sneak out of the house at night to play soccer on my own when I was younger. I didn't go far, just into the garden."

"Really? I can't imagine you as the 'sneaking out' type of person," she mused. "How old were you?"

"Around seven or eight."

"Did you ever get caught?"

"No, the aunt that I lived with was pretty laid back and I don't think she really noticed I was gone, sometimes even during the day."

"Oh," she giggled again. "Were you good at soccer?"

He shrugged, knowing that she could sense the gesture. "I was alright."

"That's good – oh wow! What just happened there?"

What Stalker was talking about was the move that Beat just pulled. He had been passed the ball again but this time he didn't try to dribble, instead kicking the ball as far away as he possibly could, and it was received by his team-mate, who was way up the pitch.

"…That was good."

"Huh?"

"That was a good pass." Neku nodded towards the ball that Beat's team-mate was now bringing up to the goal. "It's obvious that Beat actually has good kicking power. His aim isn't the best, but he can get the general direction and it looks like he can control the power he uses."

"What do you mean?"

"If he kicked it too far, then it would be off-side and it would go to the other team, but he kicked it just enough into an empty space so that his team-mate could run into the space to get it."

"Oh..." Stalker sounded like she at least half-understood what Neku had just said.

"Dammit." Neku's right arm was starting to ache, having held the phone up for so long. He switched hands and shook it off. "Talking to you is actually physically painful."

"Oh ha-_ha_. I would apologise but it's not like you would appreciate it." She sounded miffed again. "Why don't you connect your phone to your headphones? You wear them around everywhere anyway, don't you?"

"That's…actually not a bad idea." Neku unplugged his headphones from his mp3 and connected it to his phone, putting his phone into his pocket. "That's much better. I should've thought of that sooner."

"Glad that works for you." She now sounded clearer to him than she had before.

"…Thanks Stalker."

She let out an "Oh!" of surprise at being thanked by him. "You're welcome." She seemed to be so surprised by the acknowledgement of her helpfulness that she forgot to be insulted by being called 'Stalker' again.

Suddenly a shrill whistle pierced his ears, even with his headphones on. "Half-time!" The coach shouted.

Play stopped and the players ran back towards the coach, all searching his facial expression for signs that they were doing well. The coach, however, simply told them to have a ten minute break for water before he resumed their game. Neku figured that he should probably head back over to where Rhyme and Beat were now.

"Well, I'm going back to the hopeless case and his sister. I'll talk to you tomorrow-"

"Wait! I can stay connected, can't I?" said Stalker. "If I don't talk when anyone else is talking to you, it'll be fine, won't it?"

He sighed. "Do what you like."

He walked right up to where the Bito siblings were, Rhyme handing Beat a bottle of water from the supply that the coach had. "You were doing great, Beat."

"Yeah? Thanks Rhyme." He didn't look all that happy, though.

Rhyme noticed Neku join them. "There you are, I was starting to wonder what happened. Who were you talking to? You were on the phone for at least thirty minutes."

_Thirty minutes? _He and Stalker can't have talked for _that _long. _Oh, but we did stop talking to watch the game a few times…_That would explain where the time went.

"No one, really." See, the good thing about not being a chatty person, was that if you gave people short answers, they would usually drop it, even if it was a lie.

"Who cares 'bout that? What did you think of my game?" Beat asked Neku eagerly.

"You sucked," said Neku, giving it to him straight.

"Way to be blunt," muttered Stalker.

"Watchu say – aghh, never mind. You're right, I sucked." Beat crouched down now, his knees pointing outwards, his elbows resting on them while he put his head down on the hands he locked together. "We should just go home."

"No! Beat, you can't give up now," Rhyme said in alarm.

"But it's no use," he said dejectedly.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Rhyme also knelt down on the ground and faced Beat.

He didn't say anything back to her.

"What would Mum and Dad say if you came back late, and didn't even finish the tryouts?" His head snapped back up as he stared at his sister. "Don't _give_ them a reason to shout at you!"

He blinked at her words. Then he abruptly stood back up. "You're right!" He clenched his fists, holding them in front of him. "No way in hell am I gonna let them shout at me today. Just watch Rhyme, I'm going to smash 'em."

"That's my big brother," Rhyme said proudly.

_They sure do change gears pretty quickly._ It was as if Beat's optimism was turned off and on by a switch, which just so happened to be Rhyme most of the time. Neku didn't think that this certain quirk that Beat had would be one that helped him this time, though. Even though it was true that if he was optimistic, his confidence in himself would rise, Neku didn't think that his technical skills could make up for it.

"I wish there was something we could do," said Stalker, sounding very wistful. Apparently she had sensed Neku's doubts.

Well, if Beat wanted to be in the soccer club then he had to do it by his own skill. That was just the way it worked. Neku walked idly down the slope, while looking at the other players; they all seemed to know each other, the members and the ones trying out, and they were looking at Beat every now and then and snickering.

"What a loser!"

"He should just give up already."

"Did you see the way he was running?"

Despite insulting Beat in his head himself, he somewhat disliked hearing it from others. It spurred him onto a decision.

"Hello there," the coach greeted him, when Neku had appeared beside him. "The spicy flavour of competition has brought you here to cheer on for your friends, hasn't it?"

"Something like that," he said, not bothering to correct the man by saying that he wasn't friends with anyone here. He tugged at the front spike of his hair. _Am I really going to do this?_

"Is there something you wanted to ask me?"

"More like suggest." Even as Neku explained the idea, he wondered what the hell had moved him to do it.

"I see…that might actually work. It will certainly add a surprising flavour to the next half of the game," Coach full-of-food-puns said pensively. "I'll switch him in. He does look like he has potential for that."

He quickly thanked the coach, giving him a polite bow before joining Rhyme up the slope again. The boys were called back down at the same time, and Rhyme gave her brother a quick hug. Grinning, Beat gave her thumbs up and turned to leave, when Neku let slip out, "good luck."

The other boy stared at him, looking unsure as to whether to believe what he just heard, but then ran down when he realised everyone except him had already lined up in front of the coach.

"You've all done very well in the first half, and it is very hard to pick between the different ingredients that have gathered today," Coach Higashiza said. "What makes for the best dish is not just the ingredients, but the way they blend together. He opened his arm in a wide gesture. "For a true taste test, I'd like you all to give your best in the next half, and also," he looked down at the list, "Daisukenojo Bito, was it?"

Beat let out a disgruntled grunt, seeming to bristle when the man said his first name. "That's me."

"I'm switching you and Terumi Miura as the goalkeeper for your team."

"Bwaah! I've never been a keeper before, yo." The group of boys started to murmur amongst themselves as Beat flailed about at the turn of situations. Terumi Miura himself, who was only slightly smaller in stature than Beat, looked appalled.

"Sir, I don't think you should be giving the goalkeeper position to a second-year. I've been waiting for this for a whole year," he protested. "Besides," his eyes shifted sideways to Beat, "he's not exactly…good at soccer."

Beat's expression turned angry at the obvious insult and even angrier when the others called out agreements with him.

"If something is bitter, perhaps it means that it is not right for the dish, or perhaps it is being used in the wrong way," said Higashizawa. "Keep in mind that these _are _tryouts, and I would like to see a display of all the skills of the potential members, but also re-assess our current members' abilities."

"In that case, why don't you switch out Ryogo for Beat instead. Then we'll see whether me or Beat is the better goalkeeper."

"Go for it," the boy called Ryogo shouted from the back. "I prefer being a forward, as usual."

The big-sized coach looked at them for a moment, before nodding. "That sounds reasonable. Bito, take off your bib and give it to Ryogo."

"But this is messed up, yo. I told you, I ain't ever played as a goalie before…" Still, Beat took it off and passed it to Ryogo, who exchanged a grin and fist-bump with Miura.

"The newbies on the other team won't stand a chance, since right now I'm Ebisu's ace."

"_We're_ still here, idiot," called one of his team members on the other team.

While the other boys started running back onto the pitch to get into position, Beat made his way slowly, looking very lost. Neku took note of the unsure way he was staring at the gloves that he had just put on. "Hey Beat," he called out. Beat looked up at Neku from the goal-post. "Just keep the ball out of the goal and you'll be fine."

He was encouraged by the words, getting into a defensive, ready stance in front of the goal.

"That was surprisingly nice of you, Neku." Stalker's voice resonated in his ears.

Neku travelled back to the spot where he had been standing, a distance from Rhyme, who regarded him in a confused manner, though not questioning his movement. "Well, don't get used to it. I only did it because watching Beat stumble around like an idiot was getting painful."

Coach Higashizawa blew the whistle and the game resumed. "I don't think that's it." There was a teasing edge to Stalker's voice. "I think you actually might want to help Beat get into the club."

"Shut it."

"It's good to know that you _do _have a heart. Hey, maybe you're actually starting to consider Beat as a friend."

"Not even close. Beat getting into the club is good for me, because he'll be too busy to try and bother me. Now seriously, shut up – I'm watching the game. " That Ryogo-kid had taken the ball all the way up to the goal, and it was only about two minutes into the game. It appeared that his claim as Ebisu's ace was not completely unfounded, as he weaved his way past many of the newer players, and only being slightly slowed down by the rest of the current members.

"Get ready Bito!" He shouted, aiming a powerful kick at the corner of the goal, and Neku was sure the sheer power of it would have shaken anyone.

Beat was not just 'anyone', though, and with a faster reaction than anybody had seen coming, he dived sideways and punched the ball away.

"Tch. First time lucky," the ace huffed, glaring up at Beat.

The boy was unfazed and stared him down. The game resumed with a corner-kick, and Ryogo let out another shoot towards the goal, but this time Beat caught it. He stared down at the ball in his hands, in a sort of disbelief.

"Don't just stand there," Neku yelled. "Kick it forward."

Startled by his voice, Beat kicked the ball all the way up, where one of his teammates received it perfectly, changing the direction of the game.

"Whatever your reason for helping Beat, I think that it's still pretty great of you," Stalker commented, after a while. "He's doing so well now, and it's because of you."

The other goalkeeper, Miura, had by now let in three goals, while Beat hadn't let even a single one pass through. What made it better was that Ryogo had given him at least six shots in total and failing to even get something close in every attempt. While Beat's teammates had started to grow to work better with him, the other team's gameplay had started going down, as Ryogo became more and more frustrated, and had begun refusing to pass to his teammates. He dribbled the ball all the way to the far corner from Beat's goal.

"What are you doing?" a bibbed player cried. "You _know _you can't do chip shots."

"Shut up!" Ryogo hissed, blindly kicking the ball. He really couldn't do chip shots, because instead of curving like it was supposed to, it flew straight up in the air, past the goal even and heading towards –

"Rhyme!" Beat's face turned horrified as he realised that the ball was about to hit his sister.

The girl didn't move. Her eyes seemed to be stuck on the ball, and her body stuck in place. When she finally realised that she needed to move, it was too late and it was definitely going to hit her. She closed her eyes, bracing for the impact.

Only, the hit never came.

Neku had started running the moment the ball left the ground, and made it just in time to jump forward, deflect the ball off his chest. The ball rolled down him and Neku balanced it on his right knee as he landed on his left leg, bouncing it to the right before sending it flying back towards Ryogo who only just managed to catch it.

"Watch where you're aiming," he said acidly, now standing halfway down the slope. "If that hit her she might have gotten a concussion." He spun around. "And next time, _move._"

The girl could only stutter a "yes," still too stunned to do much else.

She wasn't the only one. Everyone else on the pitch was gazing open-mouthed at Neku. Even the coach looked shocked.

"…" Neku shifted uncomfortably of the awed looks they were giving him. "She's fine so just keep playing."

No one moved for a while, until Neku shot a glare at the coach who promptly blew the whistle for the game to continue. Rhyme had excused herself, saying she needed use the bathroom. It was clear that she was a little shaken up.

"Alright?" Stalker cried almost hysterically. "You're not just 'alright' at soccer. You're freakin' amazing."

"Stop making such a big deal out of it," Neku said, observing the glances that the players on the pitch stole from him when they thought he couldn't see them. "All I did was stop the ball."

"Yeah, but we were standing about a good ten metres away. You ran all the way to Rhyme, jumped, and then kicked it back. I could _feel _the speed that the ball was going at." She sounded so excited. "And you knew _exactly _where the ball was going before he even touched the ball. I know, I felt it from you. You can't know that much without being good at soccer."

"…If that's what you think." Neku didn't think that it had been such an unusual feat.

It wasn't as if it was impossible to do.

"_What? Are you crazy? Even if you run ahead, there's no way you can stop it in time -"_

"_Just watch me!"_

"…_I can't believe that worked. How the heck did you pull that one off?"_

"_Oh Neku. There are two types of people in the world. Some people are lucky and some are just born skilled."_

"_So you were lucky."_

"_No, I meant that I'm skilled. Man, get it right."_

Neku willed the memory to the back of his mind. Out of all the things to remember…

_And besides…was it me, or did it slow down a bit just a second before I got to it...?_

"Hey Neku, they're done with the game."

The game had indeed stopped, and the players were once again stood in front of Coach Higashizawa, who had his arms crossed. Neku stepped down closer toward them so that he was standing just a little bit apart from the rest of the players.

"Excellent performance from all of you," he said. "Unfortunately not all of you will be able to be in the team though." He cleared his throat. "I have decided on the new members."

"Already?" Most of them said in surprise.

"Yes, I think I have sampled the flavours of your ability enough to have made a judgement." He raised the clipboard he was holding to read off it, clearing his throat another time.

"The new members are, in no particular order: Shuto Dan, Aki Kazuma, Itaru Yokoyamada, Kaito Aonuma, Koushirou Ohba, Soichi Ishizawa, Daisukenojo Bito –"

"_Hell yeah!" _Beat fist-pumped the air and looked around wildly until he caught Neku's eye and grinned at him, he looked over to where Rhyme should have been standing, and his self-celebration dimmed slightly when he realised she wasn't there.

"Yes, yes, thank you, Bito," said the coach, chuckling at his enthusiasm. He regarded his clipboard again and everyone held their breath – there was only one place left.

"And last, but not least - the spicy tuna roll."

Neku felt sorry for the guy who the coach was referring to; the coach was naming the guy after food. That was, until he started to feel the familiar prickle of too many people looking at him at the same time. This included a look directed by the coach.

Wait.

He meant _Neku_?

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! This chapter was full of football. I would have named the chapter 'Soccer' but I don't actually like that word all that much…except when said the Japanese way – 'Sokaaaaa' xD I watch too much football anime. Which is weird because I don't actively watch real life football games except for the World Cup. **

**And I don't know where making Higashizawa the coach came from. But I could somehow make it work (or I hope I did). Funnily enough, writing his food related speech wasn't hard…(I blame Cilan, from Pokemon. I'm so used to his food speech that Higahizawa's food puns seem normal to me -shot-).**

**This chapter turned out longer than I expected, but oh well. Maybe I'll just give you guys a shorter chapter next time. Haha, I kid, I kid. I've already written the next chapter (as usual) and it's a decent length. I think you guys will like the next chapter especially, because –insert spoilers that will not be spoiled here -.**

**Pfft. I hate spoilers, so apart from the previews, I will say nothing. Have fun speculating :3**

**By the way, for anyone who cares, my trip to Berlin was really fun. It's colder there than here in the UK but it was sunnier there. I swear, it's supposed to be spring here, already, but this _definitely _doesn't feel like spring. It _snowed _yesterday. And now that I'm back here and I have to study more ;-;**

**Thanks to those who favourited/followed this story : **neeeeeon, Orange Lilies and Red Roses** and **MasterIckolas Xaron.

**And to my lovely, lovely reviewers: **Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, B.A.G.- GOMEZ, Xerzo LotCN, Chronic Guardian **and** GRX3m0m.

**Hope you enjoyed! Reviewers will get virtual hugs from me xD (That awkward moment where no one reviews 'cause they don't like my hugs -shot-).**

**5/4/2013**

**P.S. I'm starting to think that I'm missing out on seeing typos because I'm always editing this at a certain time of day…which is nearly 2AM in the morning. OTL**

* * *

**Chapter Six - Mew**

This tasting session brought out a new array of flavours.

"_The shop on your right…it feels really, really familiar to me."_

I really believe you would be a great ingredient to add to the mix!

"_B-but Neku! There's a cat!"_

Although, you do seemed to be a bit tired at the moment.

"_Let Rhyme go before I _trash_ your face."_

Perhaps we should talk more another day. What was your name, again?


	6. Mew

**Sanctuary**

_Small!_

_The living space this human has is just too small._

_I'm hungry._

_I want some food._

_Feed me._

_You're not going to?_

_I'll get my own then._

_I always have._

* * *

**Chapter Six - Mew**

"And hell, that last one nearly went in but I reached it just in time. You shoulda seen it Rhyme!"

The girl, who was walking beside him, gave her brother a small smile. "I wish I did."

"I gotta say, I owe it to you man." The boy punched Neku's shoulder. "Rhyme told me that she saw you go up to Coach and tell 'em to put me in as the keeper. How 'bout we catch another bowl of ramen?"

Neku rubbed his arm, wishing Beat would stop doing that. "Yeah, yeah. Just not tonight. I'm tired. I'll probably sleep early."

The taller teen nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I'll probably hit the hay earlier too. My folks can't say anythin' after I tell 'em I made it into the team."

"They'll be proud of you," said Rhyme encouragingly.

"Eh…ain't proud going a little too far?" He held up a victorious, clenched fist. "I'll just be happy if they don' yell at me." He stopped and looked around. "Ain't we supposed to turn right here?"

Rhyme and Neku paused. "That's right," Rhyme said. "I almost forgot." She turned to Neku and gave him a polite bow. "Thanks again for earlier today."

"Hah, that makes the two of us owe you again, huh Phones?" Beat scratched his head. "Still don't get why you don't wanna join the team – it would've been sick - but whatever. See you on Monday!"

Neku watched them disappear down the turn on the right, before walking straight down the road, hands now in his pocket.

"Beat has a point, you know. You would have been great on the team. The coach thinks you have talent," Stalker piped up. _Woah, forgot she was there._ He wondered how long she planned on staying on the phone with him. His phone battery would probably run out soon. Although, come to think of it, his phone seemed to be lasting longer than usual nowadays.

Coach Higashizawa had said something along the lines of, "I _knew _I sensed a secret recipe hidden in you, but that stop was truly impressive." Neku had bluntly declined the spot and left before anyone could say otherwise.

"I may have 'talent' but I wouldn't be great on the team," he stated. "I wouldn't be much of a team player." Even the others knew that – most of them had been muttering outraged protests because this was the guy who had insulted clubs and was rumoured to being a bully or being bullied (neither of which they wanted to involve themselves with). It was like listening to a broken record.

"_Coach, you can't let him stay on the team."_

"_Yeah! You _know _what he did, right?"_

"_If even _he _can't rely on Neku, how can any of us?"_

"_Sakuraba…the matter of fact is that you're causing unrest among the rest of your teammates. With the District Tournament coming up, we can't afford a broken team. I appreciate your talents, but even I have some qualms about the whole incident…"_

"_Fine. I'll quit the team."_

"…_I didn't expect you to agree so quickly."_

"_Soccer was just a hobby anyway. Besides, you have _him. _I'm not needed here."_

He didn't want a repeat of back then.

"Neku! Stop walking!" Out of the suddenness of Stalker's voice, Neku did actually come to a halt.

"What is it?"

"The shop on your right…it feels really, really familiar to me."

Neku looked over the shop. It was a simple sewing shop, and through the glass he could see all sorts of materials and needles on display. The shop's name was on a board at the top of the shop, with patchwork font: 'Thread to the Heart.'

"_Kokoro e no Shiki._ That's an original name," he said sarcastically. He wasn't all that surprised that Stalker would like such a girly shop like that.

"_Shiki…"_ Stalker repeated.

"I swear most people go for '_Sureddo' _now. Shiki sounds more like a name."

He heard a sharp intake of breath from her end. "That's it."

"What's it?'

"My name. My name is Shiki." Her voice clearly got more excited. "My name. I remember my na – _argh_!" Stalker let out a wail that caused Neku to automatically clutch his headphones.

"Hey, Stalker, what's wro – _ngnh_!" Neku's head started to throb, as a high-pitched screeching noise started to emit from his headphones. They echoed loudly through his head, and much like the first time he had answered Stalker's call, he couldn't move. His fingers were locked in a vice-like grip around his headphones.

"Neku…I…anymore…losing…going…black…" Stalker's words, interrupted by static finally stopped.

As the sound stopped coming out of his headphones the pain that was caused to his head ceased as well. "Stalker?" There was no reply.

He felt uncomfortable about what just happened, and it wasn't just because of the pain. The last time that it had happened, Neku could only think about the pain in his head, but this time he was aware of something else. He could feel that Stalker's head was hurting too and not only that – he could feel the nothingness. He felt the nothingness that Stalker had been stuck in for all this time.

He was also aware of the fear. Stalker's fear. He _felt _her panic about what was happening to her, and the fear started creeping up on him too until she was cut off.

He had asked her before what she had meant when she said she could just 'feel' what he was doing and it looked like he could do the same thing now.

xxxxx

_Ring! _Neku bolted up at the sound of his doorbell. _Who the hell could that be? Especially at this hour._ He glanced at the clock hanging in his room – _shit. It's already one?! _He had slept from seven last evening to one in the afternoon; that was eighteen whole freakin hours. He had never slept that long in his whole entire life and he was sure that no normal person did.

He eyed his phone with a bit of bitterness. _Normal people don't have ghosts haunting them. _He rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his right hand while putting his headphones around his neck with his left. Still feeling a bit heavy, he reluctantly got out of bed, slipping his phone into the pocket of his night-shorts. Dragging his feet along, he went to his front door and opened it up.

There was no one there.

_Ugh. _It must be some stupid brats trying to play a trick on him.

"_Meow."_

His eyes slowly trailed downwards until it was met with the sight of a black cat, looking up at Neku. He must have still been tired because he thought, _how did it reach the doorbell? _

He stared at the cat and it stared back, its yellow eyes glinting.

"Uh. Shoo." Because he had no idea what a cat was doing at his doorstep. He made flicking forward gesture with his hands. "Go –er – that way." He pointed to his right.

Instead of going the way he wanted, the cat did the exact opposite and walked straight past him into the flat. He was so weirded out by the situation at hand that he simply stood still for a moment. Slowly turning his head to where the cat was going, he narrowed his eyes. _Give me a break, I just freakin' woke up. _

He stomped towards the cat and tried to grab it by its neck; if it wasn't going to leave on its own, he would _make_ it leave. Of course, it didn't give in so easily. It hissed and swiped at Neku, missing him by only an inch. It then made a point of jumping onto his sofa and curling up into a ball.

He glared down at the furry intruder. What was its problem?

Neku then noticed that it had a red collar around its neck and what looked like paper stuffed between it and the back of its neck. _Great. It must have an owner. _The paper must have a clue as to where this cat came from.

Taking it as safe to approach, since the cat's eyes were now closed, Neku carefully removed the piece of paper. The moment he did, the cat opened its eyes again and tried to scratch Neku. "Hah, missed me again."

The cat gave him a lazy, almost pitying look.

…_did I really just taunt a cat?_

He turned the piece of paper and it had a few words written on it, with neat, clear and cursive handwriting. "Take care of the cat. – Joshua," he read aloud. He swore to himself… _Seriously? I didn't actually mean that wish._

He let out another curse as his phone started buzzing. "_…good creatures, they wallow then they hollow ya_…"

He put on his headphones and clicked the answer button on his phone. "What is it, Stalker? Can't you tell that I'm not in the mood to talk to you yet?"

"B-but Neku! There's a cat!"

"I know there's a cat. I can see it."

"No, I don't mean _that_ cat! There's a cat _here_." Now that caught his attention. "It's not a real cat like yours but it's –"

"What do you mean by 'not a real cat'?" He interrupted her.

"I mean it's a plush cat. It's one that I made myself, I think. I woke up a bit after you did and it was here. I don't know how it got here, but this is big news!"

"How so?"

"If something can get _in _here, it means I can get _out _of here, doesn't it?"

"That's not necessarily true," he pointed out. "And why do you think you can get out wherever you are? You say you're dead, so maybe you're _meant _to be there."

"This can't be where you go after you die, or there would be more people here." Neku was about to argue but Stalker ploughed on before he could. "And I know that you're going to say that maybe everyone has their own small space of nothing – but then why did I get a phone? Shouldn't it be that everyone gets one? But if everyone gets one that would mean everyone could contact the living? And that's just not the case. I must have been put in here for a reason."

Neku sighed. "That's all on the assumption that everyone that dies gets the same thing and they might not. Your theory is just full of holes."

She fell silent. "Then…how do I get out of here?" It's then, because he can feel it, that he knows that she's been thinking about this for a good long time now. She had wanted to ask him before this but she never did. It was that fear again – she was scared of what the answer might be.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "If I could somehow get in contact with Joshua again then maybe he would know…"

"I've also been meaning to as you that," she asked, and Neku knew she was doing so, trying not to sound too dejected that he didn't have the answers. "Who's Joshua?"

"He's – and you're just going to believe this – an angel."

He waited for the outcry of shock or anger that he was teasing her, but all she said was, "Oh."

He felt a wave of relief from her. "Is that really all you have to say?"

"It's just…if he's an angel then he must know what we could do to get me out of here."

Not voicing it out loud, and hoping that Stalker would not pick up on this certain line of thought, Neku didn't think that Joshua would be much help. For all they knew, he could have been the one to put her there in the first place.

"Neku, do you think we could find him?"

"Sure," he lied. Stalker's end was silent and he knew that she could tell he wasn't being honest. "Look, we've got the cat and this note. If we're lucky there will be a clue to where the cat came from. It could possibly lead us to Joshua."

The teen regarded the piece of paper once again, but he didn't recognise the writing at all.

"Do you think there's anything special about the paper?" she asked him.

"Nope…well, it does say 'Kiryu' at the bottom right corner which tells us…that this paper was probably bought in a super saver pack."

He could sense her roll her eyes. "Stop teasing me. I've got enough memory back to remember Kiryu. I swear they make _everything_." She hummed a catchy tune that every person in Japan with a TV would know. "Shopping at Ki-ry-u - pick and choose. With prices like these –"

"- you can't afford to lose," he finished for her.

And suddenly they both burst out laughing.

"M-maybe we should call up Kiryu a-and ask them if they sell to angels," Stalker suggested in between her laughter.

"If we do that, t-they'll probably try to _sell_ us the info." Neku gasped, trying to get some air in.

The cat meowed irritably at the noise. After a while the laughter died down and Neku sat down on the sofa, clutching his stomach which had begun to ache from laughing too hard.

"That's the first time I've heard you laugh like that," said Stalker. "I wonder why?"

He wondered himself too. He couldn't remember laughing so much in a long time. It hadn't even been anything _that _funny. Maybe it was the combination of heaviness he had been feeling from yesterday and the hopelessness that came with Stalker's situation; the regularity of the typical and highly common slogan had done it for him.

"In any case, I'm glad that I got to hear it. You've got a good laugh…I like it."

Perhaps it was the sincerity that he could feel from her that caused him to say, "Thanks. You've got a nice laugh too."

The cat mewed again; demanding attention, saving Neku from what he thought might have turned into an awkward kind of silence. "What is it, you damned cat?"

"Meow."

"I think Nimew is hungry."

"Nimew?"

"The cat I've got over here is called Mr. Mew so we'll call this one Nimew! _Ni _because it's the second Mr. Mew.*"

"I'm keeping this beast, now?"

"Shh! Don't say that! You'll hurt its feelings."

"I'll hurt _its_ feelings?" He shot another glare at the thing. "_It_ tried to hurt my eyes."

"Please, Neku? There's a chance it might try to go back to its owner, who is probably Joshua."

It _was _a plausible idea. "Fine, I'll take care of the little monster."

"That's great! Aw, you're going to love having a cat. They make really wonderful pets. I don't have one myself but I think they would make good pets. Nimew is the cutest thing as well, and it looks just like Mr. Mew, which is a total plus." Wow, Stalker was _really _pleased that he agreed.

At the same time, the cat gave him a look that he read as, _what a softy!_

He was _not_ going soft.

Was he?

xxxxx

He found himself in Miyashita Park again, that afternoon, though he had not come alone this time. Sitting adamantly by his feet was the cat. He had tried telling it to go find its owner, but either it didn't understand (which would be the ordinary thing) or it just didn't like Neku. The playful breeze that was blowing through the park that day gave Neku the feeling that it was the latter.

Well, at least they had even managed to get to Miyashita Park, considering the cat's stubbornness.

_Should have kept Stalker on the phone…_The cat probably would have listened to her if maybe he put her on loudspeaker, but he hadn't thought of that before this and she had already told him she would hang up for the day. It seemed like her ability to know what he was doing while they weren't connected wasn't passed onto him, because the moment she hung up he stopped being able to read her._ At least one of us has some privacy. _

He nudged the black cat with his foot. "C'mon. Where's Joshua?" He chose Miyashita Park because this was where he properly met Joshua and perhaps he would be here again, just out of sight.

The cat, miraculously, actually started to move. It ran down a path and Neku chased after it, pleased that he was finally getting some progress.

That was, until they reached the area with the ramps. The cat then jumped onto someone's lap. Rhyme's lap, to be exact, and Neku highly doubted that Rhyme was in any way connected to Joshua. Indeed, the cat seemed to give him as close to a grin as a cat could give, just to spite him. _This cat definitely belongs to Joshua…_

"Neku! What are you doing here?" Rhyme had seen him already, so there was no turning back now.

Resisting the urge to groan, he walked over to her and joined her on the bench she was sitting on. He had just had to run and if he was tired before, he was even more tired _now. _

"Just…walking my cat," he made up. Did people even walk their cats? He didn't know.

He could guess why Rhyme was here.

"Bwaaaaaaaaah!" Beat landed wrongly from the last ramp and fell down, his skateboard scattering an arm's length away from him. "Dammit!"

"It's okay, Beat! You can do it!" Rhyme cheered him on from the side, much like she had yesterday.

Beat waved at her, and then spotted Neku. "Rhyme, Phones, I'll smash it next time! Watch me!" He got up again and attempted the same ramp, only to fall again. Still, he got up and tried again. And again.

And again.

"Why does he try so hard?"

He didn't mean to say it out loud, but after he did, Rhyme just smiled. "He's like that with everything, I'm sure you've noticed. Once he's put his mind to do something, he'll do it no matter what. He's got a strong determination and it lets him push forward, no matter what people say. Beat's got nothing to lose." She paused and looked at Neku. "I think that's why he wants to make friends with you. I think he sees you as similar to him."

He raised an eyebrow at her at the last part. "We're nothing alike. I've got to be the least motivated person out there."

Still smiling, she said, "Not that part. It's the, having 'nothing to lose' part."

He fiddled with the headphones around his neck. _Nothing to lose…she's got that right. _"Beat's got you."

He didn't expect her to start frowning. "That's right…Sometimes that can be a bit of a burden for him. You see, if anyone picks on me, Beat gets really angry. He used to get into fights all the time and a lot of people started to misunderstand him." She stroked Nimew behind the ears. "He means well but…he used his fists to solve his problems too much. Eventually he stopped fighting, though. He got tired of it, especially after he fell out with his best friend. His best friend was a bad influence on him and he was always liked to egg Beat on."

"I see you've have been talking about me, Rhyme." Two arms had wrapped around Rhyme from behind and she let out a frightened squeak. Nimew leapt off her and started hissing.

"Hands off her, creep," said Neku to the perpetrator, seeing Rhyme's obvious discomfort.

It was a boy around Neku's age, with a mess of black, wavy hair. He was wearing what looked like one of the private high school's uniform, one that had a blazer and a tie. He gave Neku a side-on look. "Who's this trashy looking kid?"

"Let Rhyme go before I _trash_ your face." The threat came from Beat, who had seen him coming from afar and stopped skating immediately to rush over. The boy retracted his hands, and Rhyme immediately ran to Beat. "The hell are you doin' here, Tai?"

"I just happened to be in Shibuya and wanted to pay my old friends a visit. Anything wrong with that?" His green eyes were full of malice that Neku didn't like the looks of it.

"What's wrong is that 'chu keep tryin' to talk to Rhyme like that. She don't like it."

"I never could catch her two years ago either," he said, "but we had a fun game of cat and mouse going on, didn't we Rhyme?"

"Go away Taichi," said Rhyme, quivering and clutching onto her brother's arm, clearly distressed.

"Better listen to what she says or I'll pound you down again."

Taichi's eyes narrowed. "Say that again, bastard." He pulled back one of his sleeves. "I can take you on."

As he made to pull back his other sleeve, Neku caught his wrist. "You can't take us both."

"Trash and trash together," he muttered. He yanked his arm away. "Fine, I'm willing to do this the fair way. See, I've been bored lately, and I hate having loose ends. So, let's have a wager. I heard that your school's having an exhibition soccer match next Friday with ours. I'm sure you know how big the rivalry between Ebisu High and Odaiba Acadamy is. Knowing you, you probably joined the soccer team." Beat grit his teeth, giving him away. "Thought so! If your team wins, I'll leave Rhyme alone and if our team wins…well, I'll take her."

"Yeah, when hell freezes over!" Beat growled.

"What, you scared?"

"I ain't stupid enough to say yes to–"

"He'll do it." It was Rhyme. She still looked shaky, but determined too.

Beat looked at her incredulously. "Wha-? Rhyme?"

"You can beat Taichi. I know you can."

"No way am I bettin' on you." He made an 'x' sign with his arms.

"He'll do it." There was a sense of finality in her tone – one that didn't sound harsh, but was decisive all the same - that made it impossible for Beat to argue.

Taichi grinned; his expression made it look like he had already won. "That's more like it. Looking forward to it." He turned, giving them a two-fingered flick of his hand as a goodbye.

It wasn't until he was completely out of sight that Rhyme let Beat's sleeve go.

"What's wrong with you?" Beat shouted furiously.

"You can't just let people like that walk all over you," said Rhyme, giving her brother a steady look. "If someone tries to hurt you, or things you care about, you can't just give in to what they want."

"Yeah but he's Tai."

"Exactly! You know what he's like!"

Neku didn't know what just happened, but he felt like an intruder between the two siblings. He shivered as a cold wind suddenly swept around them. "…I'm heading back."

He couldn't stay here. He picked up Nimew and walked as quickly as he could without running, not saying another word to them.

"_You can't just let people like that walk all over you."_

Sometimes you had no choice.

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! Woo. It felt like a lot of things happened in this chapter, to me anyway. **_**Shopping at Ki-ry-u pick and choose, with prices like these, you can't afford to lose. **_**Hehehe...references. I've got a catchy theme tune that I associate with it and I hum it a lot xD That moment when we know something the characters don't. **

**If anyone has read my Bito sibling fic, 'Rewind', you would recognize Taichi from there. I thought that he would be a good OC to use. If you have read, or plan to read that fic, his history with Beat here is similar as the one there. Reading it isn't necessary though, so don't think about it too hard.**

**Alrightee, thanks to those who favourited/started following: **cutekitty5597, Alyss Penedo, , Nozomi Illuminated, IrateWritreviewer** and **Omega Zekrom**.**

**Thanks to my wonderful reviewers: **cutekitty5597, Chronic Guardian, B.A.G-GOMEZ, GRX3m0m, Xerzo LotCN, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER **and **Omega Zekrom**.**

**To my anonymous reviewer:**

OnCuzImBored**: Thank you so much for your kind review :D I'm glad someone has finally mentioned the little 'pseudo-poems', as you called them. I think I'll refer to them as that, because you're right that I didn't write them while intending them to be 'poems'. I did indeed write them myself, and they're the ones so far are each in the viewpoints of different characters. Some are more obvious than others, though I'll confirm who they are later in the fic.**

**That's all for today. Thanks for reading, everyone!**

******- 19/4/2013**

* * *

**Content Notes:**

*** Nimew – **_**Ni **_** is 'two' in Japanese. So this would also work if we kept Mr. Mew as Nyaa-tan from the original. Nimew would then be Ninyaa.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven - Friends**

It was _nice_ seeing you again Beat.

_"It wasn't me!"_

Get ready for the match, I'm going to humiliate you.

_"Where the hell have you been?"_

I'll show you that I'm stronger than you.

_"It's not over until I say it's over."_

Don't worry, I'll treat Rhyme _very _well.


	7. Friends

**Sanctuary**

_They smile at you_

_I cannot see them._

_They are always there, hiding away from sight._

_I wear a blindfold over my eyes._

_You tug at it._

_I tell you to stop, but you refuse to listen._

_Look what you've done – it's come undone._

…_I can see them now._

_I almost forgot what they looked like._

_They smile at you and I._

* * *

**Chapter Seven - Friends**

"_I always took him for the suspicious type."_

"_You're so brave, coming back even after he did that to you."_

"_Some friend he turned out to be."_

"_I'm telling you. It wasn't me."_

"_Of course _you _would say that."_

"_You don't want to get in trouble."_

"_I'm telling you the truth."_

"_Yeah, and we're supposed to believe he did that to himself?"_

"It wasn't me!" Neku breathed heavily as he stared at his outstretched arm, having sat right up upon waking. He lowered his arm slowly as he looked at his phone, checking it. At least it was a decent time to get up. When he had dreams like that before, he would always wake up at odd hours of the night and would have trouble going back to sleep.

He hadn't had nightmares for a long time. Was he getting them because he was back in Shibuya?

Or was it because of what happened on Saturday?

"Meow." The mew came from the foot of his bed. Neku blinked as he realised Nimew had been sleeping on his bed. It had done that the night before as well.

If there was one thing that Neku had done yesterday, it was that he had to learn to put up with a cat being around the house. The monster left fur balls all over the place and Neku had to keep cleaning them up. It made his Sunday a busy one.

After going to Miyashita Park, he _still _hadn't gotten any leads on Joshua.

He hadn't talked to Beat and Rhyme yesterday…and to his surprise Stalker hadn't called him. It had somehow bothered him, even though he was the one who didn't want to talk to people for the past two and a half years.

_Well…guess I'll see them at school. It's a Monday after all. _

xxxxx

He climbed the stairs up to the rooftop, as he had for the first week of school, and there was one Bito missing from the picture. Feeling that somehow the space next to Rhyme looked too empty without Beat, he abandoned his usual station of sitting separately by the railings and sat across from Rhyme.

She gave him a cheerful smile. "Glad that you're joining me today, Neku. It would be a bit lonely eating by myself, with Beat gone. The more the merrier."

Taking out his chopsticks, Neku asked, "Speaking of him, where is your brother?"

Rhyme looked to her right, eyes cast downwards. "He's down there."

He turned to see where she meant, and saw that she was right. The soccer pitch was visible from their spot on the roof, and he could easily make out Beat standing in one of the goal-posts. He and the other members were doing a training exercise, and from what Neku could tell, all the forwards and mid-fielders were having a go at shooting against Beat.

"They've started practicing already, for the exhibition match this Friday." Rhyme brought her attention back to her lunch. "It seems that Taichi was right and there _is _a match against Odaiba. Ebisu and Odaiba tie a lot during their matches, but since this is the start of the year, this match will be extremely important. Beat says that coach has asked everyone to attend practice every lunch time and after school for the whole of this week."

"I bet everyone's happy about that."

"You would be surprised. Soccer is the most popular at Ebisu, so everyone in the team wants to keep it that way. I'm sure the upperclassmen are raring to go, and from what I hear from my classmates, all the first years want to prove themselves."

"…" While that was good and all, it didn't change the fact that this game also put Rhyme on the line. _Why would she challenge someone like that? _

"Taichi was Beat's friend since he was in kindergarten," she said. Neku wasn't sure if she had read his thoughts or she had just started speaking on her own, since she sounded so reminiscent. "They'd do everything together. Beat would always insist that I tag along with them because he didn't want me to feel left out, but I was fine with that because it was fun. When I wasn't there, sometimes Beat would come back with what he liked to call 'battle scars'."

She poked at her food, with a frown. "I didn't like it, but Dad says that boys would be boys. I don't know what happened, but slowly Taichi started to become rougher – too rough. He and Beat got into a lot of arguments and it usually ended up in a brawl and the injuries got worse. Beat always won though. When Taichi kept losing, he started targeting me. With a…different approach."

"I can guess what kind of approach it was," he said, recalling the events that happened on Saturday.

"Yes…" She nodded solemnly. "Anyway, that was it for Beat. He and Taichi had a fight in the school grounds and Beat got expelled."

"Expelled?"

"Our school was strict on violence. They didn't want to hear, yet alone try to understand the reason why he was fighting," she said. "He had to move from Shibuya Junior High to Ebisu Junior High – it was the only other school near Shibuya that would take him. He moved in the last year of junior high; last year he decided he liked Ebisu and came to this high school."

Well, he wouldn't say that it was totally unexpected. Beat did seem like the type to go on a rampage if he ever found out someone was trying to hurt Rhyme in any way.

"…but even if he fights, it's never because he really wants to. He just wants to protect the things that are important to him." She looked straight at Neku. "If he didn't accept the challenge, a fair one, it would only lead to another fight later. He's stopped fighting, but since its Taichi, he would definitely not back down from another physical fight. I'm sure of it."

She said this clearly, as if it was vital that Neku understood that. As if it was vital that he understood Beat.

"At least this time it's through soccer. This isn't his usual way of fighting, though. He can't do this alone."

_I know where she's going with this…_"It's a good thing that he has such enthusiastic team-mates, then."

"Neku, if you joined the team, Beat would –"

"No," he refused instantly. "I'm not doing it."

If she had pestered him some more, it might have felt easier on him. All she did was look at him, disappointed. "…Alright."

xxxxx

Monday afternoon –

He took Rhyme back home, since Beat was staying for practice. She said that she didn't need to watch anymore, because she believed in Beat. But the ghost of her disappointment was not gone.

Stalker hadn't called today.

_That's strange…she didn't call yesterday either. _

Tuesday afternoon –

The rain was pouring down heavily, making it hard to even see a few metres in front of Neku. Still, Beat and his team pressed on, showing no signs of losing motivation. Beat had even seemed more energetic than usual.

Nimew scratched his curtains today.

Still no call from Stalker.

_I want to play. But I can't. I know I can't._

Wednesday early hours of the morning –

"_You guuuuys! You're going to get super sick if you keep playing in the rain like that!"_

"_Sheesh, you always worry so much."_

"_We're fine. If anyone's going to get sick, it'll be this guy."_

"_What's _that_ supposed to mean, Neku?"_

He had another dream. It woke him up.

_Of course I can't. This is why I can't._

Wednesday lunch –

Beat showed up for lunch today, but only for about five minutes. He flashed a grin at Neku and Rhyme, promising that he'd win the game on Friday, no matter what.

_Why the hell do I feel like I want to help Beat? I said no, didn't I? It's Rhyme who asked for my help, not him._

Wednesday afternoon –

Miyashita Park still didn't make the damned cat respond to anything. Nimew simply chased around a few birds.

Had something happened to Stalker?

_It's been too long. Stalker…? _

Thursday, early in the morning –

"_Hah, I knew that we'd be okay without him."_

"You _are our ace after all."_

"_Ehehe, you guys give me too much credit!"_

"_That guy on the other hand is a lowlife."_

"_A cheater."_

"_A traitor."_

"_A liar."_

A nightmare. It was only a nightmare, but when Neku woke up he was still surrounded by darkness.

_Right…it's okay…Beat doesn't really need my help._

Thursday lunch –

According to Rhyme, one of the players was off school for the whole week because he got a fever from Tuesday's practice.

It looked like another one had just twisted his ankle. He was not to run for another week too.

They were both the members from last year – one was the ace that had nearly hit Rhyme with that ball.

_Damn it. Why is this happening?_

Thursday–

The team looked like a gathering of broken spirits. Only Beat stood resolute, shouting at the others to get a grip on themselves.

_I don't care._

Rhyme looked worried for the first time that week.

_I don't care._

Neku returned home.

_I don't care._

He did his homework.

_I don't care._

Nimew mewed for food.

_I don't -_

His phone rang.

…

_My phone-!_

xxxxx

"…_looking for salvation__, u__seless old protection__, c__hoked up with emotion, searching for a scapegoat__…." _

He reached over to his bedside table and sat up. His phone was in his hands in an instant. "_Stalker._"

"Neku! Wait, wait, it's Shiki now, not Sta -"

"_Where the hell have you been?" _

She was startled, he could tell. The feeling of being connected to another person's emotions was back.

"I haven't gone anywhere."

"Then what's with you? You say that you're going to call me and then you don't!" He didn't understand why, but he was shouting into the phone.

"I _tried._" Her voice was raised just as loud. "I've been trying to call you all week but I couldn't get through."

"You should've tried harder!"

"Why are you so upset?" Upset? He wasn't upset. "Yes, you are. I can _feel _it, Neku."

He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He gripped his bed sheets tightly.

"I know that we couldn't speak to each other, but your feelings were still coming through to me. You've been on edge for the past few days."

She was right. He had this feeling of dread the whole week. "Okay, you win. Something's been bothering me."

"It's the game coming up, right? Or is it the nightmares?"

He nearly stopped breathing. "You…you know about them?"

"Partly," she said cautiously. "I don't know what they're about, but I know you've been having them."

"…"

He didn't say anything. He _couldn't _say anything. Not about those nightmares.

The silence dragged on, painfully.

"…I remembered a lot of things while we weren't speaking," she started slowly. "I'll tell you about them – and don't interrupt me."

And she really did tell him all about her regained memories, and she didn't leave a single detail out. There were small things, everyday things, such as that she liked the colour green, she wore glasses, she enjoyed shopping at ten-four every day. She wasn't all that good at studying, she liked to make friends but sometimes wasn't sure how.

She liked sewing. No, she _loved _sewing. It was her dream – her passion.

Who she was started to build up.

Yet at the same time, it was still a mystery. She couldn't recall her last name. She couldn't recall her family, if she had one. No address or anything close to a description to where exactly she lived. She couldn't remember which school she went to.

She still couldn't remember how she died.

It was as if something was preventing her from remembering anything that would lead her to finding out what happened to her.

"Eri. My best friend was called Eri. I think she moved away a while ago." A single person, a name other than her own, but it wasn't enough to find out who she was, completely. "But we were really close. We don't argue a lot." She paused. "Well…there was that one time..."

"Once, Eri and I had a fight. We both took turns at a festival to try and win a toy. Can you guess what toy it was? It was a toy of a black cat, a lot like the Mr. Mew I have here…or Nimew. We won the toy, but we fought over who got to keep him; we were really young. We decided to take turns keeping it, so we did. I kept the cat for one week and Eri did the other. We took turns.

"But one day, she lost it. I can't remember what her explanation was, but I was angry. I wouldn't speak to her. I felt…kind of betrayed. I thought that the cat was a symbol of our friendship. How could she just lose it like that? No matter how many times she apologised, I wouldn't talk to her.

"Then she stopped saying sorry. It started getting lonely. I realised, eventually, that I was just being stubborn, and _I _was the one who had torn our friendship apart. I didn't want things to end like that…After school one day, I told Eri I wanted to talk to her. I held out a plush doll, one that looked almost exactly like the one she lost, only with a few stitches undone. Haha…guess I was still a bit of a novice, but Mr. Mew did hold out for all that time until now.

"Anyway, she took one look at it and started crying. Then _I _started crying and before I knew it, we were both hugging and apologising at the same time.

"…What I'm trying to say is…if I hadn't pushed down my stubbornness, I would have always regretted it." She hesitated for a moment and then ploughed on. "Neku, I don't want you to have regrets."

So that was what she was doing. Stalker did what she did best, and talked. She just talked and talked until Neku had calmed down. She was holding her breath, he knew.

"You…talk too much," This time, his tone was teasing, and he felt her relax.

"Glad I could make you feel a bit better."

"You're so full of yourself; I didn't even tell you that I felt better."

"We're _not_ going over this whole mind-reading thing again," she scolded, though he had the feeling that she was smiling.

"You know…" He got off the edge of his bed, and looked out the window. Even at night, Shibuya was never dark. The lighted signs flashed all around, causing the city to glow. "I've been…trying to decide something."

"What was it?" It was an expected question, because she really had known that part already.

"Whether or not I'm going to give the whole 'friendship' thing another chance." He didn't want to, but to reasons unknown to him, he _cared_ now, about Beat and Rhyme and he was ready to admit it.

"Really?" Now that question, she didn't need to ask; Neku was speaking honestly.

"I think I've decided now. Your long-ass story helped me make up my mind."

She was refraining herself from commenting on how he described her 'story'. "That's good."

He watched the cars below rush by, all looking like specks of dust from way up high. "…Aren't you going to ask me about my nightmare now?"

"No," she answered. "You're not ready for that question yet, are you?"

"You've shared everything with me…I feel like I owe you."

"Then don't tell me. I don't want you to share all your secrets…if you don't feel like you completely trust me. So when – if – you do really feel like you can trust me with the story…I'll listen to it. Until then, I'm willing to wait." She added as an afterthought, "Though not _too _long. I'm a patient person, but still!"

Neku chuckled at her. "Way to ruin the moment."

"We were having a moment?" She sounded mock-incredulous. "So what, are we friends now?"

"…"

"Ah, erm, it's okay, you don't have to answer tha-"

"Yes."

"…what?"

"Yes, we're friends."

"Woah. That was easier than I thought it'd be."

"Again, Stalker, quit ruining it."

"Idiot, what friends call each other Stalker?" It sounded affectionate, if anything, so Neku didn't reply.

As Neku looked out over the city, it seemed as if Shibuya started to shine brighter than it had been before.

xxxxx

'Popular' was an understatement to describe how soccer was at his school. It was obvious, by the crowds of people who had gathered on the bleachers, that everyone else took pride in the sport just as much as the team itself did. There was a clear divide between the supporters from Ebisu High, and those who had come from Odaiba High to support their team. Many of the students had red flags and red war paint on their faces, representing Ebisu's school colour, and the support was echoed by the navy blue banners that the opposition's crowd were wearing.

Neku was seated next to Rhyme who had, in all festivity, adorned a red beanie instead of a black one today. He himself wasn't wearing anything red.

Everyone was on edge as both teams got into position. Coach Higashizawa was unmistakable; the great big hulk was standing by the sidelines, arms crossed and looking down over the pitch.

The kick-off started with Taichi, looking as confident as he had last Saturday, powering through the first few mid-fielders.

Ebisu _should _have had the home advantage, but it was clear within the first ten minutes that this wasn't the case. The possession bounced back and forth between Ebisu and Odaiba but most could tell that Odaiba had a bit of an edge over them.

"GO! GO! EBISU! FIGHT! FIGHT! EBISU!" cheered a brunette girl standing next to Rhyme.

"What a pain," Neku muttered, wincing at the screeching.

"Encouragement is always a good thing," Rhyme said. "We've lost two of our upperclassmen…and one was our ace. I think we do need it."

Thirty minutes into the game, it had not gotten any better. Odaiba was an aggressive team, and were tackling the Ebisu players roughly. So roughly that one of the newer members was knocked over, falling on his knee. The referee blew the whistle and the poor kid had to be carried off the pitch.

The Ebisu students booed in protest, crying out for a red card. The referee had only awarded the offender a yellow one, though, so Coach Higashizawa sent a substitute in and the game continued.

To Beat's credit, he had not yet let in a goal. The forwards, including Taichi, had sent in successions of multiple attacks, but he had managed to save each and every one. Their defence was good, in Neku's opinion - the problem was that none of the forwards were quick enough to get past Odaiba's defenders.

"What's he doing?" yelled a boy behind Neku.

"Oh no, he's going to tackle him again!"

Taichi tackled an Ebisu member that was in possession of the ball. The kid tripped over, landing on his side. It was hard to tell that it was because of Taichi that he fell – it looked like he tripped over the ball. No whistle was blown and Taichi pushed on, aiming another kick towards Beat.

It was as if time slowed, as everyone's eyes followed their movements. The ball curved upwards and back down. Beat jumped up to catch it, but his fingers missed by only inches, and the ball rolled slowly, mockingly, into the corner.

The whistle went off resoundingly. The score was one-zero to Odaiba. The students from the academy cheered excessively as the Ebisu students sat down, no longer shouting. Even the girl who had been screaming Neku's ears off was sitting, looking dejected.

Neku observed that Rhyme had her hands on her lap and that they were now clenched and shaking ever so slightly. She stood up suddenly, and flew down the stairs towards where the Ebisu team were taking their break. He found himself following her.

"I – I'm alright to keep going on," said a small, brown-haired member, as he gripped his elbow; he was the one who had been tripped over by Taichi. "I just need a little break. I don't need my arms to play."

"No, Yammer," Coach Higashizawa said. "I don't want any permanently unusable ingredients in my dish."

"Yeah! Yeah! What are we going to do if you get injured some more?" The kid speaking was also had brown hair, but his was styled in spikes that could rival Neku's, and were sticking out over a red scarf he had tied around his head. "Kaito's already out of commission, we don't need you to be carted off too. Leave it to me! They don't call me Shooter for nothing. I'll score us tons of goals in the next half!"

"What he said, aight? We gonna make it!" The two teens, Shooter and Beat, both radiated the same positive energy. "Hey Phones! Rhyme! You guys are here."

"Why's the spicy tuna roll, here?" sniffed Terumi Miura, the former goal-keeper. "I thought he turned down the spot on the team."

"Can it." Beat instantly jumped to Neku's defense. "He's jus' here to tell us good luck and stuff." Brushing off the rest of what Miura was going to say, he spoke to both Rhyme and Neku. "Don't worry. They're only one point ahead. We're gonna beat 'em." He glared past them to where Taichi was watching them. "We're going to beat Taichi."

Taichi grinned at them, while shaking his head from the distance he was at; as if he could hear what Beat had been saying, and decided to put it down.

"I swear. I _will_ beat him." He punched his fist into his other palm. "Alright! Thanks Neku, thanks Rhyme. Les' do this."

_He doesn't have anything to thank me for._

Both teams returned to resume the game, but Neku and Rhyme remained standing by Coach Higashizawa.

"Spicy tuna roll," he said all of a sudden.

"I'm Neku Sakuraba."

"Sakuraba," he corrected, looking down at Neku's feet. "You've got your shoes ready."

"…Yes."

Coach Higashizawa flung a red jersey at him. "Go."

Rhyme stared, wide-eyed as Neku took the jersey and started running away from the pitch. "Neku, you're going to - ?"

"WOOOOOOO! ODAIBA!"

Another goal had once again slipped past Beat, and he fell to the ground on all fours, pounding the ground with his fist. "Dammit!"

"No need to worry." Shooter bounced on the spot as he waited in his position for the next kick off. "I'm going to definitely get -"

Taich had stolen the ball before he could finish the sentence, and again, he was speeding down the pitch. Miura stood, as a stone wall between Taichi and the goal. "As Ebisu's greatest former-goalkeeper, you won't get past me!"

"I'll make you eat your words." He tried to dodge around Miura, but he wasn't a defender to be underestimated.

With a frustrated yell, Taichi tackled Miura. Miura, too, fell over, but not before being able to kick the ball out. "Told you." He panted, though he was grinning, and then proceeded to pass out; he had hit his head on the floor.

"No!"

"Miura!"

Miura was carried out off the pitch. Still, the referee did not issue a red card to Taichi. Having a third person down had finally gotten onto the Ebisu team's nerves.

"We don't have any more subs!"

"We're done for!"

"No!" Only Shooter looked like he still had hope left. "We're _Ebisu_. We won't lose to them."

The whistle blew once again and the referee held up a sign.

"What? They're subbing someone in?"

"Who?"

Wearing his red team jersey, with his headphones safely kept in Rhyme's hands, Neku walked onto the spot where the ball had rolled out.

"Hell yeah!" Beat's face lit up, and he punched the air, looking completely re-energised. "We're goin' to smash this."

"Woah, woah, woah. Coach is letting Sakuraba play?"

"Never mind that, we need someone to fill in for Miura."

"Does it even matter? You've seen how they play."

"C'mon…it's over."

His team-mates began arguing amongst themselves. He wasn't having any of it, this time.

"Hey!" They stopped, surprised at hearing the sound of his voice. "It's not over until I say it's over. You might not like me. You might not want me here. You might even hate me. But I don't give a damn about that." Neku nodded towards the field. "I'm here to play soccer, and _win."_

"…"

"Heh? What is he? Some kind of big shot?"

"Second years think they know everything."

"Woaaaaah, Sakuraba, that was deep."

Funny how a few words could change things. It was true, though. Even if they didn't all like him, they were all here for one thing and one thing only. To beat Odaiba Academy's Soccer team. The whole team, both old and new, had regained their will to play.

"Eh? How the hell did trash like you raise morale like that?" Taichi wondered loudly, from a few metres in front of him, waiting for Neku to throw in the ball.

"Because," Neku hurled the ball right into the path of one of his team-mates and then ran past Taichi in a rush, "they can tell that with me, we're going to win."

He ran up the pitch, as the ball was passed to him. He dodged one, two, three defenders and was then right in front of the goal. "Ready to lose?"

He kicked the ball, powerfully, right past the goalkeeper's left side; he didn't even have time to react.

The red side of the bleachers burst into roars. "GO! GO! EBISU! FIGHT! FIGHT! EBISU!"

The fight was on. With Neku, now able to break through the defenders, the flow of the game started to change towards Ebisu's favour. Taichi fervently tried to steal the ball off Neku, but it was to no avail. He was just too good, that day.

He had never felt better, playing this game. He hadn't felt the rush of playing soccer for about three years now. He was afraid that he might have been out of practice, or, just like his last team, he would be rejected, but he needn't have been. The drive to win, on both parts, was stronger than anything else.

Beat, whose loud directions from the goal, and nonsensical shouting of "make 'em fly" was another central part to this.

The ball, it passed on the feelings of everyone on his team, and it led Neku to score another goal, tying up the game.

"EBISU! EBISU! EBISU!" The stands went wild with mixed cheers.

No matter how much rougher the other team had got, Ebisu refused to give up.

Five minutes left.

The tie-breaking score was yet to be made.

It looked good for Ebisu – Neku was bringing the ball back up.

Again, he managed to get through the defenders, until he encountered Taichi. He stopped running, holding the ball in place with his right foot. "What's a forward doing all the way back here?"

"My teammates are being useless. I shouldn't have been relying on them so much, they were holding me back."

"You're right."

He looked shocked. "What?"

"Relying on others is really risky. You never know when someone is going to turn their back on you," he kicked the ball sideways to his right, "but taking a risk isn't always a bad thing."

Taichi's green eyes followed the ball. Shooter had run up, and received it perfectly. He brought back his leg. "Ultimate…_SHUTO!"_

The ball flew straight by the goalkeeper.

The final whistle blew and the referee bellowed."Three-two. Ebisu High wins the match."

The applause was deafening. The crowds were standing and shouting and dancing. Neku found himself in a headlock from Beat. "I knew you were going to come. I felt it in my gut!" He ruffled the top of Neku's head with his fist. "You're the man!"

"I wasn't just going to let you lose."

"Hey Beat, stop hogging Sakuraba!"

"Yeah!"

"And where do you think you're going Shooter? C'MERE."

Neku felt himself being lifted into the air. Yes, he protested. Yes, he tried to kick whoever was holding his legs in the face.

And yes, Neku let himself enjoy the celebration. After all, he was finally back in a team again.

Xxxxx

It took a whole hour after the match for all the team members to disperse. Friends had come down to congratulate the team members, and they had to sit through a very food-related victory speech that Coach Higashizawa decided to give. He was a surprisingly emotional man, and Neku had the suspicion that the man was actually on the verge of tearing up.

"Where's Rhyme gone?" Beat asked Neku. There were only two or three other people left around, and Rhyme wasn't one of them.

"She was here just now." She had been the first person not on the team to come and tell them congratulations. "Didn't she say she was running down to the convenience store to get some victory snacks?"

"She did?"

Leave it to Beat to miss out on things like that. "Yes…but that was about half an hour ago."

"…I got a bad feelin' 'bout this." Beat reached across himself his right hand to hold his left shoulder. "Maybe we should go check on her."

The nearest convenience store was only a five minute walk away. They asked a cashier whether he had seen anyone that looked like Rhyme and the cashier only shrugged.

"Talk about bad service," said Neku.

"Beat!" The brunette girl who had been screaming next to Neku on the bleachers walked over. "Congratulations on the match. You too, Sakuraba."

"It was nothin'," said Beat. "Yo, listen. Have you seen Rhyme?"

"Yeah, I did. I was talking to her just now. She was just saying how proud of you she was." The girl nudged Beat. "Haha, what a good big bro you are. Anyway, she just left not too long ago. I went to go grab a magazine, and when I came back she was talking to one of those guys from Odaiba."

"Watchu say?" Beat said alarmed.

"Aw, are you worried? I know how you are Beat, you're too overprotective. If Rhyme wants to talk to guys, it's normal. Besides, the guy wasn't that bad looking. He was a bit of a jerk when he pushed over Miura earlier, but he seemed completely nice when talking to Rhyme. I'm sure he's just competitive – hey! Where are you going?"

Both Neku and Beat were out of the door.

Though Neku couldn't read Beat's mind, he knew what he was thinking.

_Rhyme's with Taichi._

xxxxx

There was an alleyway not too far from the convenience store. It had the gloominess and the foreboding that Neku always associated with alleyways. It didn't help that it was approaching almost seven, and the sun would be starting to set soon. It wasn't much of a challenge, finding Rhyme, but it did allow time for Beat to start panicking.

Well, they found her. With Taichi.

"I don't understand what you want with me," they heard Rhyme say as they continued down the alley. Her voice came from around the bend. "Beat's won the bet, fair and square. You're supposed to leave me alone. "

"He just got lucky," Taichi snarled. "I did not lose. It isn't possible that I _lost _to Beat."

"Winning isn't everything," she said. Neku motioned for Beat to be quiet as they took light steps to get closer.

"It is to me. I can't lose. Ever." There was a loud clang of metal, possibly of him kicking something aside. "It wasn't a one on one fight, it doesn't even count."

They were just at the edge of the corner now. Neku was about to tell Beat that they needed to come up with some sort of plan, but Beat ran past Neku.

"You bastard! I told you to stop getting' Rhyme mixed up in your whole supurity complex!"

Never mind…Neku followed Beat, and saw Taichi, now grabbing Rhyme nearer to him by the elbow and looking at them apprehensively.

"I don't have a superiority complex!"

"Like hell you don't."

"I don't," he insisted, his eyes glinting with rage. "I just want to smash in that idiotic face of yours."

"Oh yeah! Well I'm here, aren't I? Come get me Tai!"

"No!" Rhyme struggled, trying to get away from Taichi's grip. "You can't get into another fight, Beat. What will happen if someone found out? What if you're expelled again?"

"I don't care about that! Whoever messes with my sister, messes with me. And no one messes with Beat." He raised a fist towards Taichi. "Are you ready for a beat down?"

"Now we're talking!" Taichi let go of Rhyme's sleeve and the two teens ran towards each other.

The first hit was dealt out by Beat; he punched Taichi squarely in the jaw. Taichi staggered backward, but then came back with a punch of his own. The blond managed to dodge it, but Taichi had anticipated; he used his other his leg to knee Beat in the stomach.

The scuffle continued and Neku took this chance to get over to Rhyme. "Are you okay? Did Taichi do anything to you?"

Rhyme, who had been standing, frozen as she watched the fight, seemed to come back to her senses. In that moment, she attempted to sprint over to the boys and break up the fight. Unfortunately for her, Neku caught her arm and held her back.

"Don't, that's dangerous," he warned her. "You'll only get caught up in it."

"But Beat…he's…you've got to help him, Neku!"

Neku shook his head. "No. This is Beat's fight. You of all people should understand what this fight is about."

Her brother landed another cracking punch to Taichi's head. Taichi didn't look disheartened though – he was grinning, almost maniacally. Beat, however, didn't look amused, but there was the same kind of fire in his eyes that was present in Taichi's.

"Pride," Rhyme voiced. "They're fighting…for their pride."

Because, through the short time of knowing Beat, Neku could tell that there were two things Beat would definitely fight for. To protect people and to protect his pride.

And there was no one who could take away Beat's pride.

With one last finishing push, Beat delivered a blistering punch right in Taichi's gut. The black-haired boy, landed on his back, completely winded.

"You've lost, yo." Beat stood over him. "Now I don't wanna see your face 'round here."

Taichi breathed unevenly, but to his credit, he managed to sit up.

"Fine…fine…I've lost," he finally admitted. "But you're not leaving here just like that."

"Beat, look out!" Neku alerted him.

He just managed to get out of the way of someone who tried to hit him with a bat. "The hell?" There were now five other boys, all of whom had been in their match against Odaiba.

"You…think…I came…alone…" The grin was back on his face. "Trash him."

His lackeys started assaulting Beat, who was already tired out from fighting Taichi. He let out a yell as one of the guys swung his bat towards his head.

_Crack!_

Neku had rammed into the guy, the bat flying out of his hand and hitting the wall.

"Neku?" Beat punched another guy as Neku also joined the fight. "What are you," he kicked the side of a lackey, "doing?"

"You can't," _punch,"_take all of them," _smack, _"by yourself."

"Heh!" Neku caught hold of a guy's oncoming punch and directed him towards Beat, who punched him in the shoulder.

"_Shit." _Beat had been taken by surprise by someone who hit him from behind. He fell forward, and only just managed to use his hands to stop his head from hitting the ground.

"_Stop!"_

The fight came to a shocked halt as they heard a shrill cry.

Rhyme, she was trembling. "Y-you said that this would be one on one."

"Who is that chick?"

"You…you hypocrite." Her voice shook too.

"She's our prize," said Taichi, who had not moved since his accomplices had arrived.

"Guess we'll come and collect her then," said one of them.

This, of course, led to that guy getting one of Beat's hardest punch yet.

"Enough…_enough."_

"Any of you touch her, and I'll –" One of them had managed to break away from the fight and started heading towards her. "Rhyme!"

"_I SAID, ENOUGH!"_

A ferocious current of wind tore down on them. It came out of nowhere, it seemed, but it was strong enough to force most of them onto the ground. Except for Beat and Neku.

"Wahh!"

"What is that?"

"A hurricane!?"

"Let's get out of here."

With effort, and terror, they picked up Taichi.

"No! We're not done here," he struggled against his team-mates, though to no avail, in his condition. The wind was working in their favour and pushing them away from Rhyme. "I'm not –"

His eyes met Rhyme.

No one could mistake her expression as anything but fury.

Neku's eyes might have been playing tricks on him, but it looked like the wind was coming _from_ Rhyme. Taichi must have been seeing things too, because he immediately stopped talking. He let his peers help him hobble away as the wind pushed them. He gave Beat one last grim look, and then he was gone.

The wind stopped slowly; at the same time, the fury dissipated from Rhyme's eyes.

She blinked, looking around herself, confused. "Where…did that wind come from?"

"Dunno," said Beat, scratching his head. "Was a hurricane in the weather forecast?"

Neku doubted that a gust of wind that had lasted that short would be classified as a hurricane. It wasn't a usual everyday occurrence that was for sure.

"W-woah!" The older Bito was being crushed in a hug by his sister.

"You're okay!"

"Of course, I am. 'Said I'd beat 'em down, yo." He took off her red beanie and started ruffling her hair, while she maintained her clutch on him. Out turned his head to look at Neku. "Hey…thanks man. I would've been toast without you."

"It was nothing," he said, but not coldly.

"I've always got somethin' to thank you for. You always got my back, yo."

He gave Beat a genuine smile. "That's what friends do."

He blinked and stared at Neku for a moment. Even Rhyme shifted her head so that she could see Neku. They both returned his smile.

"Damn straight! Now! Who's up for some ramen?"

xxxxx

Neku leaned over his balcony, breathing in the cold night air. It was a good way to wind down after the events of today.

"…_see where you are, seek what you want, stray as you wish, stay who you are…"_

"Hi."

"Neku! You were amazing today. At soccer, you really can play well; you're so fast. It's the same as when Rhyme was in trouble. I was so scared for her, you don't even know…"

"Those guys from Odaiba weren't so tough."

"It's a good thing they weren't. What if you got hurt?"

"So you were worrying about me…"

"What? No! I mean - of course I was. Why wouldn't I be? And I was worried for Beat and Rhyme too. What on earth was up with that wind, by the way?"

"You noticed too. I've got no clue…"

"Weird things always happen around you."

"I'm guessing you're talking about yourself here."

"Hey!"

"It's not like I'm wrong. You can't say you're _not _weird."

"Yes, yes, whatever."

"…I think I'm imagining it, but it seems like I can see stars in the sky tonight."

"In Shibuya? No way!"

"You just said it yourself…weird things happen around me."

"Oh! I can see what you mean."

They were there. Tiny scattered spots of sparkles, visible along the night sky, even though the lights were as bright as ever.

"Maybe I can see them because I met you."

"Huh?"

"Nothing…just talking to myself."

"…"

It was only just him making guesses, but maybe it was because she opened up to him that he could see the stars. While opening herself up to him, she had, at the same time, opened up his eyes too. Eyes that he had closed shut on his own will for a long time…

"I was thinking."

"About what?"

"You said you loved sewing."

"I do!"

"Then it suits you, you know. Your name."

"My name…?"

"Shiki."

He wondered, then, how much of a positive being connected by feelings was. Shiki seemed to be overflowing with happiness.

It must have been infectious, because he was too.

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! We have reached the end of the 'Friends' Arc. Well, I've separated this fic into sections in my mind, and although they're not technically arcs, that's what I'll be calling them.**

**This was one heck of a long chapter, for my standards. I went for a slightly different style for several parts of this fic, and I hope they created the effect I wanted.**

**There will be no updates until next month, because I have exams all through May and June, and I won't have any time to write new chapters. There is also no preview for the next chapter, but this is because I've included some bonus content (such as a timeline), and **_**omake**_**s at the end (which are basically cracky/supposed-to-be-funny snippets, for those who don't know).**

**Since this is the end of an arc, I'd appreciate it if my silent readers review this chapter, at least, to let me know what you think of the story so far! Good things happen to those who review :'D**

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**Thanks for putting this on favourites/following**: IrateWritreviewer, Shad of Shadow, RagnartheSemiGreen, **and **Servant of the Underworld.

**Thanks for reviewing**: Xerzo LotCN, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, GRX3m0m, Alyss Penedo, ThatSexyAngel RagnartheSemiGreen **and **cutekitty5597

OnCuzImBored:** As you can tell, I didn't quite go for that angle, but I could see that happening too. Thanks again!**

dragonpiggy1024: **Haha, well it **_**was **_**meant to sound creepy. Although 'pedo' isn't technically correct, because Rhyme not that much younger than Neku, Beat and Shiki. Thank you for your review!**

Omega Zekrom:** It's more of a Joshua-neko than a Neku-neko, though x3 Also, I'm glad you picked up on that! I tried to make it less complex, since Nimew is just a cat, after all. Thanks for the review.**

…**oh my, I've reached 50 reviews. Thank you all so much ;-;**

**Thanks for reading! **

**- 3 May 2013**

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**Bonus Content**

_Ringtones from Beyond (All TWEWY OST)_

1. None

2. Twister

3. Calling

4. Three Minutes Clapping

5. Owari Hajimari

6. Detonation

7. Satisfy

_Pseudo Poem Persepective_

1. Neku

2. Joshua

3. Shiki

4. Beat

5. Rhyme

6. Nimew

7. Neku

_Timeline_

(Chapter 1)

01 -April - Mon - Start of the Japanese school year. Neku transfers to Ebisu High School as a Second Year student. Rhyme joins Ebisu High School as a first year student. Neku meets Beat and Rhyme.

(Chapter 1/2/3)

02 April - Tues - Neku causes a commotion at Ebisu. He visits Miyashita Park and encounters Joshua. Shiki calls Neku for the first time, reveals that she is dead.

(Chapter 3)

03 April - Weds - Neku has lunch with has Bito siblings for the first time. Shiki calls Neku for a second time. Neku agrees to allow Shiki to call him.

(Chapter 3/4)

04 April - Thurs - Neku visits Miyashita park in the evening. He runs into Beat and Rhyme. They have dinner together at Ken Doi's ramen shop. It is revealed that Neku had lived in Shibuya, prior to now. Third call from Shiki, who pushes the importance of friendship.

(Chapter 5/6)

05 April - Fri - Neku, Beat and Rhyme stay back after school. Beat successfully gets into the Ebisu soccer team. Neku is also invited, but rejects the offer. Shiki is on the phone throughout the tryout. Shiki remembers her name on their way back home. Memory triggers a painful head-ache on both sides.

(Chapter 6)

06 April - Sat - Nimew appears, sent by Joshua. Neku investigates Miyashita Park again. He runs into Beat and Rhyme. They are met with Taichi and are challenged.

(Chapter 7)

07 April - Sun - Neku checks out Miyashita Park again. Shiki does not call.

08-10 April - Mon-Weds - Ebisu high trains for exhibition match with Odaiba High. Shiki does not call.

11 - April - Thurs - Two Ebisu members become unable to play. Neku finally gets a call from Shiki. Shiki remembers and tella Neku about herself. Neku says they are friends.

12 - April - Fri - Ebisu VS Odaiba soccer exhibition match. Neku joins the game in the second half. Ebisu wins 3-2. Taichi brings Rhyme out to lure Beat out. Beat and Taichi fight. Beat wins. Taichi's teammates join in. Neku assists fight. Fight is stoppes by a mysterious wind. Taichi and his gang run away. Shiki calls Neku. He calls her by her name for the first time.

**Omake**

_On the Train:_

"Why does this kid have orange hair?"

"And blond hair! The other two have blond hair!"

"Maybe they're foreign!"

"We're Japanese," thought Neku, Beat and Rhyme, with a sweat-drop.

_I Can See You – Part 1:_

"Hey, Stalker?"

"Yes?"

"You said you can always see me."

"Yep!"

"So when I'm using the toilet…"

"Ew! Of course I'm not looking! I can un-tune myself you know!"

"Good…just checking…"

_Joshua is Awesome:_

"So besides flying and glowing, what else can you do?"

"Hmm…." He clicked his fingers and a vending machine fell out of the sky. "I can do that."

"Can we get drinks from it?"

"…No."

"…_That's just useless!"_

_Joshua Leaves:_

"I've got to go now, which is just too bad, because I don't make an appearance from now right through to Chapter Seven."

"Maybe you're not important?"

"Tsk. Tsk. Neku, of course I am."

"Why?"

"Because I gave you a new pet!"

"Yeah…you're useless. Where are you going, anyway?"

"…back to this studio, this cosplay costume is getting itchy."

"…"

"Hee hee. That was a joke."

"That was a lame joke."

_I Can See You – Part Two:_

Neku tripped on the way back from school today. Luckily no one saw him.

"Oh my gosh, Neku, how the heck did you trip over nothing like that?"

…never mind.

_The Adventures of Nimew – Part 1:_

The cat frowned as it watched Neku pass his week.

…this kid really had no life.

Maybe he would be kind and give the guy some purpose.

"You demon cat! What did you do?!"

Yes, he ate all the fish from the fridge. Now the boy could go out and buy some more. The kid needed more exercise.

He was welcome.

_Shuto 'Shooter' Dan:_

"Woohoo! Did you all see my ultimate move?"

"Yes, we all heard it too."

"Exactly isn't it awesome!"

"Not really…"

"You don't think so? Maybe you haven't seen it enough…here we go –"

"Wait, no, the principal is coming-"

"_ULTIMATE SHUTO!"_

"RUN FOR IT!"

_The Adventures of Nimew – Part 2:_

"Meoowwww."

"Neku! I think Nimew wants to play with you."

"No way, do you know what time it is?"

"C'mon, just a little while. Look at his cute face."

"…Fine. You owe me Shiki."

"Yay!"

"Meow. Meow. _(Big softy!)"_

"That's it. We're going to play, 'who wants to sleep outside?' and it's not going to be me!"

…

"Shiki…I think I just got locked up out of my flat."

"How? Nimew's a cat!"

"If Joshua is a demon not an angel, then I was right. Nimew is a demon cat."

"Er, Neku, didn't you just turn the doorknob the wrong way?"

"…"


	8. Momentum

**Sanctuary**

_Sights that I can see for myself._

_Sounds that I can hear for myself._

_I have missed it for so long._

_And yet, I still can't reach you._

_Your hand – it's right there._

_I'm so close._

_But I still can't reach you._

* * *

**Chapter Eight - Momentum**

The Monday after the game against Odaiba Academy, Neku walked into the class that moment only to be greeted by silence. Every head in the room turned to look at him. And then the shouting started.

"It's_ him_!"

"Oh my gosh, can I get an autograph Neku?"

"Sakuraba, you were _epic._"

_Huh? _The usual atmosphere that his class gave him had been completely thrown into the opposite direction. Instead of being repelled by him, they were all clamouring around him. To make things even more confusing, it seemed as if they were _praising_ him, of all things.

"What's going on?" he asked, not talking to anyone in particular as he was finding it hard to hold eye contact with any one of them.

"Pfft, don't try playing dumb!"

"We're, like, talking about the soccer game on, like, Friday!"

"Seriously, can I get an autograph?"

Obviously, Neku wasn't really sure how exactly he was supposed to respond to all this commotion.

"Hey guys, clear the way for Sakuraba. He wants to get to his desk." The brown-haired girl from the other day ushered him through the small crowd, much to their protests. After a well delivered glare from her, the group dispersed and most went back to their usual places. They were still giving Neku not-so-subtle glances every now and then.

Neku pulled out his chair and sat down, feeling more than a bit disorientated. "Did I miss something?"

"Apparently," she answered, even though he had been talking to himself. She stood in front of his table, arms crossed. "Well, a lot of kids from other schools say that the students here get a bit too over-excited about everything. It's not so surprising to get a reaction like that after becoming Ebisu's new Ace."

"The new ace…"

"Yes. It seems like after they all knew that you were in the team, your status changed from 'The Lone Wolf' to 'Ebisu's Ace.'"

…_they named me 'The Lone Wolf'? _

"Thanks for the…update…I guess," Neku looked up at her, "…who are you, again?"

The girl's eyes narrowed. "I sit in the seat in front of you."_Oh yeah, that's right._ "And you should remember the names of your classmates at least!"

"I'm not good with names," he said. It wasn't like he cared for any of his classmates since he had come to school.

"You're a piece of work, aren't you? The name's Ai Urahara. Just Ai is fine."

"…So…did you need something?"

"I'm a friend of Beat's," she said, as if that explained everything.

His continuing blank face made her rub her temples.

"I've got a question for you. See, I was in Beat's class all last year and I thought we were pretty close. But he hasn't spoken to me much at all since we've become second-years. I don't see him during lunch anymore and I don't see him after school either. I've heard he's been hanging out with you a lot and Friday confirmed it." She slammed her hands on the table and glared straight at him, and Neku leaned back slightly. "So, how much are you paying Beat?"

"What the hell are you on about?"

"You've been paying Beat to act as your bodyguard!" she accused, pointing a finger at him.

_Is she serious? _Her expression face certainly _looked _serious. "I'm not paying Beat to be my bodyguard."

"Oh? Then that means you've blackmailed him into it!"

_Geez, what kind of whacked up conclusions has this girl come up with? _"I haven't been doing anything like that. I hang out with him because Beat's my _friend_."

She stared at him for a moment. Great, it was one thing telling Beat they were friends, but telling some near-total stranger that was just a tad bit embarrassing for him. _She's _still _staring at me._

"Your friend…" It seemed like she just had a shocking realisation. "I get it! Of course, that makes sense." She smiled reminiscently. "Beat made it a mission all of last year to make friends with people but a lot of them were quite intimidated by him, mostly because he was so pushy. He didn't have much time to talk to me when he was on one of those missions back then either. Well, I'm glad that he's succeeded this time."

The conversation was cut to an end by the teacher coming into the room.

As the days went on, Neku found out that Ai was only the first of many who wanted to talk to him. Throughout the week, his classmates started greeting him the morning and even trying to start a conversation with him. He was still reluctant to speak too much, and he came off as a bit snappy most of the time, but most of them just waved it off with playful proclamations of 'that's our Cold Ace!' and continued trying to keep the talk going.

Perhaps, besides Friday, it also had to do with Neku being convinced by Beat to actually start attending soccer practice. He went to practice on both Wednesday and Friday, welcomed by the team with open arms. Shooter had taken an especial liking to Neku, and had strangely started to call him 'Master Neku'.

He still had lunch with the Bito siblings and he liked those times the most. After finishing their food, they often spent their time chatting or trying to rush through the homework Beat had forgotten to do and were due the lesson straight after lunch.

Shiki, to his relief, hadn't gone on another space of being unable to call, and had called him every day without fail. He was even letting her call him more than once a day. He was becoming more and more comfortable with her and she gathered few more bits and pieces of her memories every day.

So many things had changed in such a small amount of time. It was almost too hard to believe. At the same time, it made sense. Neku was slowly allowing his world to open up again, even if it was only a fraction of it. The change he had taken for himself, of not completely chasing people away anymore, changed how the gears in his world turned.

To his surprise, Neku found that he could live with that.

xxxxx

It seemed that spring was settling down. The leaves on the trees were a healthy green; all the _sakura_ petals had fallen off by now. There was not a cloud in the sky and the Sun generously shone down on the city. All in all, it was an ideal day for a walk.

The only thing that was off with this picture was...

Neku gave the black cat trailing behind him a furtive look.

...Nimew.

While he was going to Miyashita Park for the fifth time this week, he had not planned on bringing Nimew along with him this afternoon.

He supposed that the demon cat just fell into the habit of following him around to the park. Unlike a dog, Neku couldn't exactly walk Nimew on a leash. He told it to follow him, and thought himself stupid for doing so, but it had worked out.

"_You, keep your eyes on this corruption. Come on, yes, you should watch this transformation."_

"Aww, Nimew is so cute. I just want to give it one giant hug," she squealed the moment she got on the line.

"Hello to you too," he said.

"I think Nimew looks like a young cat. Not quite a kitten but quite a young cat. It must think that you're its new dad and doesn't want to separate from you."

_Er...this thing is probably just bored._ He didn't feel like killing her mood so early on, so he held himself back from pointing that out.

The cat was now strolling in front of Neku_. I wonder if Shiki would get mad if I 'accidentally' stepped on its tail. _The things it scratched weren't cheap to replace.

The cat stopped all of a sudden. Its ears perked up for a moment, before it started running.

_Did Nimew get onto Joshua's track?_

Sprinting straight after Nimew, he darted around the same corner it had taken, only to see that he was about to run into someone. His momentum was too high to stop, so he ran straight...through him?

Neku stood stock still. _I walked _through_ him._ The moment he did, it felt like he had just walked through a freezing waterfall. _It must be…_"Joshua?" He turned around slowly, still shivering slightly.

It wasn't Joshua. Or at least he didn't think it was.

There was a man wearing a black jumper with a hood, matched with a pair cargo pants. His eyes were shaded by the hood, and his mouth was covered by a red scarf but Neku could tell he was looking at him. "Another one? Eh, and I thought having the eyes to see us were supposed to be rare..."

The man's most striking feature, though, were the wings protruding from his back. They were not feathery; they were black and looked almost skeletal. It made him look all the more menacing as he observed Neku.

"Oh! I get it. You've got a Pact." The man seemed to be contemplating. "Orders are to sever all Pacts." He groaned. "Man, I hate using up my energy but…sorry kid."

Before Neku could start to comprehend what the man was saying to himself, he charged at Neku palm facing forward. With no time to react, Neku felt himself shudder as the man's hand pressed against his chest.

"Neku!" He heard Shiki's cry. It seemed to ring in his ears closer than ever before.

The man jumped back, away from Neku. "Woah! Didn't mean for that to happen!" _What did he do to me? I couldn't touch him but I know he did something to me.  
_  
"N-neku..." _Behind me!_ He whipped around and his eyes grew wide.

There was no need to guess who he was staring at. The connection of emotions was closer to him then it had ever been before, and it was coming from the semi-transparent girl before him.

She looked just like how she had described herself to him - she had dark brown hair, round glasses and was wearing a white dress with faint floral patterns as well as a light green jacket.

Looking down at her outstretched hands, Shiki seemed to be too stunned to move.

Neku's eyes flashed towards the stranger. "You! Who and what are you? Are you with Joshua? What did you do to me?"

"Me? It doesn't matter who I am. Never heard of any Joshua before. And what happened…" The man sounded equally lost. "I'd like to know that too." He muttered to himself, "I should have just stayed put..."

Addressing Neku, he said, "Let's try this again." His palm started glowing blue and this time he charged straight for Shiki.

Body moving on its own, Neku stepped in front of her, about to take the blow for her.

"Now, now..." A flash of bright white light and a strong wind passed. The next moment, Joshua was standing in between Neku and the man. He had caught the man's fist in his left hand. "Play nice."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Neku saw Nimew sitting by the side, watching them while mewing.

The man yanked his arm away and moved back a second time. He shrank back at the radiance that Joshua's form gave off. "What the hell _are_ you?"

"You do not know? Hmm, it seems as though you are not who I am looking for if you do not know what I am," he gave him a giggle. "But I know what you are. A Spirit, I presume."

"Aren't you one as well?" He shook off his hand, "Only Spirits should be able to touch other Spirits."

"No, I am afraid. The fact that you cannot tell is pitiful." Joshua tapped his head in a condescending manner. "And I do not know where you got that idea from, but it is untrue. You must have been misinformed."

"Tch. It's 'cause no one wants to tells me anything!"

"That is quite apparent," he said. "I suppose you are also not informed enough to realise that you would not be able to break this kind of Pact."

Muttering under his breath again, he said, "_This _kind of Pact? There are different kinds of Pacts? Someone needs to explain things to me again...I'm outta here." He dashed in the opposite direction of them and started to blur quickly, his wings giving a few flaps until there was no trace of him.

Neku looked into the empty space that the weird man had just vacated. _Where did he disappear to?_

The angel regarded Neku. "You seem to be doing well." He curled a strand of his glowing locks. "Although I think your friend might still be in shock there."

Hearing that Joshua was talking about her, Shiki took a step towards them so that she was standing beside Neku. "I-it's just a bit overwhelming to see with my own eyes again."

"I understand," he said almost sympathetically.

It was true that Joshua had saved them from...whatever else that guy was just about to do to them, but he still got bad vibes from him. Staying on his guard, he inched more to his left so that he was partly shielding Shiki from his view.

"Hmm, you are not the most subtle of people," Joshua commented, immediately spotting what Neku had been trying to do. "You do not need to worry; I am not going to hurt her, if that is what you are thinking. "

"..." Neku still put out an arm across of her. "You've got some things to explain to us."

"I do, do I?"

He looked at Shiki this time and she spoke up in response, "Y-yes you do! Do you know where I've been since I died? Why I ended up there?" She gestured about herself. "Also, how come I'm not there anymore and I'm _here. _What did the guy with the creepy wings do to me?"

"And while we're at it, who exactly was that guy?" Neku added.

"Hmm. If I am working backwards, the man who we had just encountered was a Spirit, much like Shiki over there. His Pact has a longer life than the one you two share, but I am certain your Pact will grow stronger over time."

He was speaking in a way that told Neku that this 'Pact' that Shiki had with him was significant.

"As for what he did-" He stopped mid-sentence and then started smirking. "Oh."

"What?" Neku demanded. "What is it?"

"It appears that we are out of time again. Such a shame..."

Once again, his wings became visible.

"Stop!" _He's just going to leave._ "You haven't answered our questions."

"I am sincerely sorry about this," he said, sounding very insincere, "but it cannot be helped. Perhaps we will get to your questions the next time we meet."

"W-wait!" Shiki cried, but with a powerful flap of his wings, within an instant, he had taken off to the sky. Before long, he was out of sight.

"He's gone..." Neku clenched his fists. "He finally shows up again but now we're even more confused."

"Yeah..."

Neku shifted so that he was now standing facing Shiki. She had on a disappointed expression, and no one could blame her. She must have thought that she was so close to finding out something more but she was let down after getting her hopes up.

"It's kind of weird," he said, making Shiki raise her eyes from the ground. "You're opaque enough for me to see you but at the same time I can kinda see right through you."

"...I guess this really does make me look like a haunting ghost," she said, sounding humourless.

"It sort of does. I wonder...can you hold up your hand?"

Shiki blinked at him then raised her left arm. "Like this?"

Stretching his own right arm towards her, he tried to touch her hand with his own, but it went right through her and he withdrew it quickly.

"It's like the guy I literally ran into just now," Neku concluded. "Except that while he felt really cold, you feel kind of warm. That's a relief; I don't want to feel like someone dumped me in ice if I ever walked into you."

She blinked at him again before her lips started curving upwards. "Silly Neku, you shouldn't be walking into me in the first place."

"I guess so. Glad I can actually see you." He was gazing intently at her face. Her looks really suited her personality. She did look like a timid girl but also had the presence of someone with the potential to hold her ground against you if she wanted to.

"Uh...oh...um..." She started fidgeting. Oh, er, had he been looking at her for too long?

"W-well, you know, it's all even now, right? Before this you knew what I looked like since you could just see me when I was looking at a mirror. Now I know what you look like too so we're even." _Even? What am I saying? It isn't like we're keeping a score of anything._ Her face started colouring very faintly. _Dammit Shiki stop looking so embarrassed for no reason, it's making me feel weird._

He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down.

"Hey! Phones!" _Saved_, was Neku's first thought at hearing Beat's voice. _Wait_ - Shiki! There had been no one around up until now, but surely her presence would freak Beat out and _crap_ - he was here.

"Yo! Takin' a walk?" Beat grinned at him.

From the way Beat had nothing to say about the near-transparent girl beside him it occurred to Neku that maybe it was only he who could see her. _Since I'm the one on the phone with her, it would make sense...  
_  
"Something like that. I'm here with my cat." Incidentally, Nimew had just been sitting down calmly for the whole previous commotion. It was merrily licking its front paw. "Are you here alone?"

"Yeah, Rhyme ain't with me now. She was here earlier today but she got tired an' went home by herself."

Neku nodded. "I see."

"Ah damn," said Beat, slapping his forehead. "I jus' remembered I'm supposed to be back now too. My folks are gonna kill me if I miss dinner again. Imma see you tomorrow."

Dropping the skateboard that he was holding, he hopped on and zipped past Neku.

"He's lively as always," Shiki stated, watching him skate off. "It's too bad he couldn't see me too."

"Yeah. We should be getting back too; I've got to make myself some dinner." He peered over at Nimew. "I guess it's still going to follow us back."

It became evident on their trip back to Neku's flat that people really couldn't see Shiki's form. None of them pointed her out. What was more, Shiki discovered that she could walk through walls and the like, as well as people. She was amusing herself with sticking her hand in and out of shops as they walked pass.

"How old are you? Three?" Neku taunted as they entered the flat.

"Am not!" Shiki huffed.

Neku decided to prepare a simple omelette and rice dish for dinner and was finished eating within around fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, Shiki had been marvelling the view outside his window. He joined her side after clearing up.

"It's so pretty."

"Yeah..."

She turned her head and tilted it at him. "What?"

"What?"

"You're staring, again."

"At what?"

"I don't know! That's why I'm asking you."

"I'm not staring at anything."

"You sure?"

"Yes." _What does she think I'm staring at?_ "But I have a question. "

"So you were staring because you want to ask a question! "

"Like I said, I wasn't staring at anything!" Okay, well _now_ he was staring at her, but only because he was talking to her now and he couldn't help it because she had her cheeks puffed out. "Geez...I was just going to ask where your phone is. I mean, mine is in my pocket because it connects to my headphones anyway."

"Good question," said Shiki. "I don't know either. "

"Huh?"

"Well I was holding it before that guy tried to hit you and then I was here and my hands were empty."

"Maybe it's in your jacket pocket," he suggested.

Shiki checked it and sure enough it was there. "We're still connected."

Taking his own out, they found that it was the same with him. _Thought so…_

"That's strange...You're not hearing me through your headphones anymore, right Neku?" It was true.

"If you can hear me without a direct connection maybe I'll stay without one now," she exclaimed excitedly. "Let's try it out!"

She was gone. The second she pressed the end call button on her phone, their call had stopped and she had just vanished from sight.

_So we still have to call each other - huh? What? What is this heavy feeling? So...tired._

The drowsiness hit him all at once, and Neku barely made it to his bed before going  
unconscious.

xxxxx

He was awakened by a certain cat that had decided to start the day by jumping onto him.

"Get off me."

Instead of doing that, Nimew tried to scratch his face off and Neku could only avoid it by rolling out of bed.

The cat then made itself comfortable on Neku's pillow. _So that's what you're after._

With an irritated sigh, Neku checked his phone for the time.

_7:45_

_What? I slept in?!_ He missed the morning practice the soccer team scheduled for today. Not only that, registration was at eight thirty and he still needed to catch the train...

"Shit!" He got himself ready for school as quickly as he could manage. Stuffing everything on his desk into his briefcase, he ran out the flat, ignoring the rumbling protest his stomach made for not having any breakfast.

There was a train at eight that he managed to catch. While the train ride itself was pretty short, he still had to walk to his school and that usually took about fifteen to twenty minutes.

Running as fast as his legs could carry him, Neku dodged past everyone who was also hurrying to get to their destination.

He normally wouldn't rush like this, but he didn't want to ruin his attendance record after only three weeks.

Neku checked his phone again as he rushed past the school gates and into the building.

_8:28_

He could still make it before the actual registration.

"I'm here. Sorry for being late." He was panting, his knees and head down.

"Mr. Sakuraba, I was just about to mark you down as late...but I have started the register earlier than usual so I'll let this one slide," he heard his teacher say. She then motioned towards a boy standing at the front of the class. "Please continue with your introduction."

"Right. As I was saying before being rudely interrupted... The kanji for my name is quite common. Yoshiya - as in 'birth' and 'justice', and Kiryu - as in 'paulownia'. That's a tree by the way. It's why my father's company's logo is of one. What else...Hmm, this is my first time going to a school with other people. Please take care of me."

The boy whose hair style and voice were eerily familiar bowed towards the class who gave him a standard round of applause.

"Y-you!"

He straightened himself up and looked at Neku.

Neku dropped his briefcase. Seeing his face, there was no mistaking it.

"Joshua?!"

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! Distraction technique numbers 117 – 'insert a filler-y scene of a running character and then introduce a new character'. I. Regret. Nothing. Alright, alright, I'm really curious as to what everyone's reactions to Joshua were…was it something like "Pfft. I saw that coming." Or "I knew he'd join the school but not **_**now.**_**" Or "Okay, what the **_**fudge **_**is Joshua doing here!?" And the classic cliff-hanger never hurts anyone 8D I've actually used the 'transfer student' cliff hanger before in a previous fic but this time, instead of already being **_**in **_**class I had him come (almost) late to school. So yes, a cliffie is my welcome back to Sanctuary present for you guys.**

**My exams are still ongoing but I had half-term so I had time to write and stuffs so I did. I've done all my English and Languages exams though – no more essays like that ever again. **

**The 'good things' that happened to my reviewers so far was that they all got a review on at least for at least of their fanfics if they have one up on this site. So, hope you enjoyed my little appreciatory gift there. I'm really glad I did that because it enlightened me to how good at writing all of you guys are. Thanks for taking the time to read my story :')**

* * *

**Thanks for the faves/follows: **ToTheSkye, Dawnshadow10815, BlackRabbit0, obstinateRixatrix, Kaiser Spartan, ElementLegend

**Thank you for the reviews last chapter:**Alyss Penedo, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, ToTheSkye, Chronic Guardian, Xerzo LotCN, Forever-Rose09, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Airhead259, Kaiser Spartan, cutekitty5597

Silent Reader: **That's a seriously huge compliment ;-; Thank you so much! And I'm glad it reminded you of sports anime/manga because when I write the parts relating to sports I hope to give the same feeling that I get when I read that kind of manga myself. (I adore sports anime/manga x3) **

**- 2/6/2013**

* * *

**Chapter Nine - Bravado**

I've made my debut!

_"And you can cut the act now, Joshua. It's not like there's anyone around."_

Although, no one really cares since Joshua's showed up in this chapter.

_"You want me to tell him?"_

Why am I never the star of the show?

_"Can I punch him?"_

Wait, am I even going to make another appearance?


	9. Bravado

**Sanctuary**

_It's a crashing melody._

_Too fast? Too slow?_

_Too high? Too low?_

_No matter._

_Even if it is the most beautiful sound in the world –_

_Will you hear it?_

* * *

_"I'm here. Sorry for being late." He was panting, his knees and head down._

_"Mr. Sakuraba, I was just about to mark you down as late...but I have started the register earlier than usual so I'll let this one slide," he heard his teacher say. She then motioned towards a boy standing at the front of the class. "Please continue with your introduction."_

_"Right. As I was saying before being rudely interrupted... The kanji for my name is quite common. Yoshiya - as in 'birth' and 'justice', and Kiryu - as in 'paulownia'. That's a tree by the way. It's why my father's company's logo is of one. What else...Hmm, this is my first time going to a school with other people. Please take care of me."_

_The boy whose hair style and voice were eerily familiar bowed towards the class who gave him a standard round of applause._

_"Y-you!"_

_He straightened himself up and looked at Neku._

_Neku dropped his briefcase. Seeing his face, there was no mistaking it._

_"Joshua?!"_

* * *

**Chapter Nine – Bravado**

Both Neku and the other boy regarded each other, Neku with a glare and the latter with an amused look.

"Ah..." He turned back to address the class again. "I do understand that calling me Kiryu might sound a bit strange but if anyone does insist on calling me by my given name, it's pronounced _Yo-shi-ya_." He gave Neku a sideways glance. "Your pronunciation was more than a little off there."

Joshua was up to something. Despite having platinum-blond hair instead of white, being not so much taller than Neku and lacking the glowing feature, he was sure that this boy was _Joshua_. The same Joshua he had seen yesterday.

"Please return to your seat, Mr. Sakuraba," the teacher said. "Your seat is the one just behind him, Mr. Kiryu."

As they got to their places, the usual whispers went around the classroom.

"Did he say his _father's_ company?"

"Yes! His family owns Kiryu, then. How cool!"

"He must be a rich kid."

"Oh, but it seems like Sakuraba knows him?"

All up until lunch, Neku's mind was racing. _What is Joshua doing here? Why does he look like a normal teenager?_

When lunchtime bell rang, Neku stood up, turned around and pierced Joshua with an icy gaze. "Why are you here?"

He had already taken out his lunch and it looked like one hell of an expensive _bento_. "Because the teacher told me to sit here, obviously."

"No, why are you at school?"

"To go to lessons. Is there any other reason to go to school?" He raised a hand to his chin, now actually making eye contact with Neku. "Well, I was home schooled up until now and my mother wanted me to mix more with people my age." He was answering Neku's questions _...but he's clearly hiding something._

"Haha, Neku, don't grill the new kid with too many questions," said Ai, walking up to them. "Unless you two know each other or something?"

Joshua replied before Neku could open his mouth. "No, I've never met this guy before." _So now he's pretending not to know me, the bastard. _

"Really? He was calling you Joshua just now, wasn't he? Is that a nickname?"

The boy waved a hand. "I suppose it does sound like a nickname that would suit me, but I would really prefer Yoshiya."

Ai shrugged. "If you say so. I'm Ai Urahara by the way. Oh right, I've got to go find Mina. See you two later."

Now that she had left, Neku was about to hit Joshua with another question. Only, he found himself being pushed aside by the majority of his other female classmates.

"Ehehe, we kinda overheard you guys talking just now. This is your first school, right? We're glad you came to ours."

"Can I really just call you Yoshiya?"

"Yoshiya, do you want some of my _bento_?"

Even when looking like a normal human, Joshua still had an angelic quality about him, so Neku wasn't too surprised that people were fawning over him. Joshua was also going along with all of it, shooting them all a glittering smile while speaking to them.

He didn't have time for this. He would deal with Joshua later. Right now, he was starving and he needed to go up to the rooftop.

They didn't do practices during lunchtime anymore, so Beat was there, but the younger Bito was missing.

"Rhyme's got a cold, yo," Beat explained. "She gots to stay at home today."

Neku nodded understandingly. "Hope she gets better soon."

"Yeah," he said. "Wanna come over after school? She'd probably be happy if you came an' visited. "

"Sure, why not?" He didn't really have anything better to do.

"Woah, you finished your _bento_ fast, yo," Beat said not long after.

His container was already empty of food. "I didn't have any breakfast today..." He relayed back to Beat how he was almost late.

"I woulda grabbed a bite anyway, man." _Typical Beat._ "Late...ah crap! A teacher wanted to see me now an' I'm late." He was up in an instant. "I'll see you at the school gate later."

He flung open the door back down to school and Neku heard him crash down the stairs. "Watch it!"

The teen shook his head at his friend's antics but stopped when he saw who climbed up the steps next. Joshua was looking around the space and whistled "It's quite lovely up here. Was that your friend earlier? That clumsy one bumped into me. Poor you, all by your lonesome now."

He walked over and leaned on the railing opposite him. "You're Neku Sakuraba, right? Ebisu's Ace is what they call you."

"I know that," he said steadily. "And you can cut the act now, Joshua. It's not like there's anyone around."

"See, that's the thing," Joshua said. "From the way you've been acting, you seem to believe that we're acquainted with each other. I don't know you, though." _Yeah, and I'm supposed to believe that with that smirk on your face._

"Stop messing with me-"

_"__Is it angels? Is it devils? Whispering in my ears?__Is it emotions? Is it illusions?__I need to be with you…"_

"Oh? You can answer that if you want to."_I was going to anyway. And I don't need your permission. _

"That boy," Shiki said upon connecting, "there's something off about him." Neku looked around but it didn't seem like Shiki's form was around again.

"Well, he _is_ Joshua."

"Heehee. I get it" said Joshua. "You _do_ know me." _He's finally admitting it?_ "You're a fan." _Erm, what?_ "You're quite smart for figuring it out. I don't show my face in my videos. No one had been able to figure it out so far. Bravo."

"The hell are you on about?"

"Although it's a pain if you tell anyone. Father would never -"

"Hey!" Neku yelled. "Listen to me! I don't know about any videos and I'm definitely not a fan of yours."

Joshua's mouth went into a tight line. "Then why do you call me by that name-"

He froze and clutched his head. "_Again?"_ His gaze fixed on Neku. "Oh, now it makes sense – _ack!"_ His hands slowly dropped to his sides. At the same time, the violet eyes that had been burning into Neku's turned white.

"Joshua?" Neku took a step back.

Joshua still had the figure of a teenager, but he gave off a faint white hue. "Yes, it is me now."

"Now? Are you saying it wasn't you just now?"

"Sort of. It is complicated," he said.

"Explain, then."

"Hmm. Very well," said Joshua. "I and Yoshiya Kiryu are the same entity. However, he is human and I am not."

"How does that even work?" Shiki wondered through the phone.

"It happens to unstable Souls. Every Soul has the potential to step out of the boundaries of humanity. Sometimes, like in my case, the effects can split up the personality. It depends really, how lucky you are." _More like how unlucky you are._

"I thought you said that you were an angel," Neku voiced out.

"It's all about perspective. I am an angel to those who think this form would be a blessing and a demon to those who do not think so. And, of course, a Spirit to those who can't tell between me and real Spirits. I can have my own form; it is the one you are more familiar with. As my material body is here, though, this way is more than enough to communicate with.

"Yoshiya does not retain much memory of me, but he does have glimpses of what I do. He is a very calculative boy, and is more than capable of figuring out things that I see. That and I do write him notes to explain the absence of his memories, when it takes to my fancies_." But I thought you _are_ him!? _"Besides, he does receive some of my gifts."

"Like what?"

"Such as -" His eyes flickered between white and violet. "My, my. Yoshiya would like his consciousness back it seems. I will concede early this time. We shall speak again soon, Neku."

The irises of Joshua's eyes slowly returned to their normal colour. The moment they had finished, Joshua staggered forward and then almost fell, only managing to save himself by holding himself up with one hand and bracing one knee on the ground. He was panting quite heavily.

"Is he all right?" said Shiki, sounding concerned.

"I understand now," he said between breaths. "You know _him_. And he calls himself Joshua, then? Interesting." He sighed and rose to his feet. "So? What did he say to you?"

This was difficult. His expression was hard to read. Joshua might just be pulling his leg but maybe he really couldn't remember.

"Nothing much, really," he said cautiously.

"Neku." The boy flinched at the tone in which Joshua said his name. It sounded dangerous. "I'm not going to ask again."

On one hand, Neku had the feeling he didn't want to find out what would happen to him if he refused. On the other hand, he felt a bit sorry for him; although he was acting as if he was in control, he was visibly still shaking.

"Neku, I...I think it wouldn't hurt to tell him," said Shiki, quietly.

Rubbing the back of his head and then looking at Joshua again, Neku shrugged. "Alright. Your eyes started glowing and then -" His explanation was brief but Joshua seemed satisfied.

"I see," said Joshua, his breathing calming down. "That's a lot more information than he's ever written to me. He didn't even have the manners to tell me what he was called."

"Since he's you, wouldn't his name be the same as yours?" Neku pondered. "You respond to Joshua differently than he does but it doesn't seem like you've never been called that before."

"Woah, you can tell that?" Shiki said.

"It's not that hard," whispered Neku.

"Does it matter? I don't go by that name. At least not in school," he said offhandedly. "Again, Neku, I would appreciate it if you referred to me as Yoshiya."

"I'll do it when you stop calling me Neku," he retorted.

"...Alright, call me Joshua. Sakuraba is too much of an effort to say." _My name's not that hard to say._

Shiki agreed with him."Sakuraba is not that bad of a family name."

"...I've been wondering, but who exactly are you on the phone with? Whatever it is isn't human."

_So this was one of the gifts that Angel-Joshua was talking about_. "It's none of your business."

The moment he said it, Shiki said, "it's okay. Tell him."

"You want me to tell him?" He asked incredulously.

"I have the feeling you should...besides, he _is_ kinda involved since the other Joshua is too." _Well, it's her afterlife..._

He sped through the story of what had happened since the day Neku met Joshua's other self.

At the end of the story, Joshua started giggling. "I knew you'd be an interesting person to talk to. Hee hee, that copycat seems to be having a lot of fun. I wonder what kind of plan he's making up."

"...you don't know anything about it?"

"Nope. Not a clue," said Joshua. "The only way I even knew he existed was because of dreams. After his excursions I can recall bits and pieces of them but I don't completely know what's going on."

"Oh..." Shiki sounded disappointed, again.

"Don't worry Shiki, we'll get another chance," Neku reassured her. "Since Joshua's here we'll just wait for the angel half to pop up again."

"I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news," he said, "but as much as all of this is intriguing, I think the bell just rang."

"You better go!" Shiki said with a squeak, and hung up.

Having already nearly been late once, Neku ran down the steps towards his classroom, Joshua chuckling as he followed.

xxxxx

Beat's house was not too far from Shibuya Station, though it was further away from it than Neku's house was.

"Aight. So this kid's a transfer student. And he's coming with us 'cause-?" He was referring to Joshua, who was trailing just a bit behind them, clicking away on his phone.

"He's got nothing better to do," Neku suggested.

While that was partly true, Joshua had insisted on tagging along because apparently he found it amusing how a dead girl's fate was probably dependant on him, and he wanted to be informed the moment after anything happened. He didn't say this bit, but Neku was sure Joshua would probably get a kick out of seeing their reactions to any dramatic turn of events might affect him or Shiki.

"If you say so," Beat said. He called over his shoulder, "hey, what's your name?" Joshua gave no response and Beat groaned. "Man, why is that such a hard question to answer?"

"Just call him Joshua. That's what I call him," said Neku, helpfully.

"Joshua? Is he foreign or somethin'?"

"No," Joshua finally spoke. "I just think that it be a waste to try and introduce myself to someone like you."

"An' what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You're obviously a delinquent," he replied, sparing Beat at upwards glance at his beanie before resuming his attentions on his phone.

"Sure I fight sometimes but I ain't a delinquent!"

"Mmmhmm..." Joshua had seemingly lost his interest in the conversation.

"Can I punch him?"

"No," said Neku shortly. Despite not trusting this shifty character, Neku also wanted to keep him around in case the other Joshua appeared.

"Aw, how nice of you, Neku. You _are_ one of my fans, aren't you?"

"Just one punch."

"I said no, Beat." Joshua was starting to get on his nerves too, but this was for Shiki.

"See? Neku doesn't want a brute to bash my wondrous face." _For Shiki._

"It won't be too hard. I promised Rhyme to not fight an' all so it won't hurt that bad."

"It's the face that Neku wants to wake up to every morning -"

"Beat, please punch him."

He stopped walking and raises his hand in a fist backwards and Joshua walked straight into it.

Joshua did not shout in pain nor did he complain - but he did stop talking until they reached Beat's apartment building.

It was a duplex which gave off the feel of cleanliness and order. It wasn't what Neku had expected Beat's home to look like.

"So this is where you live. It's not half bad." Joshua evidently had recovered from the hit Beat had given him.

Not half bad was an understatement, in Neku's opinion. There were some vases that looked intricately designed and quite expensive. _Well, we do all live in Shibuya…_

"Imma bring up some water for Rhyme," said Beat, quickly nipping into a kitchen and returning with a glass of water.

They climbed the staircase and went down the corridor. Beat was about to turn the doorknob when he paused; he knocked on the door.

"...Mum?"

Beat opened the door and the three of them walked into the room. "Nah, it's me. Mum's not home."

Rhyme was tucked into bed, but sat up at their entrance. "Beat! And Neku came too." Her eyes flitted to Joshua.

"I'm Yoshiya Kiryu,"" said Joshua noticing her puzzled look.

"Or Joshua the Priss," Beat added. Neku wanted to laugh - the name quite fit Joshua.

"In any case, your brother's room is neater than yours, Beat." _Brother? _ Both Neku and Beat exchanged a look. "Yes, I looked into your room when we passed it earlier."

"Joshua...I'm actually Beat's sister," she said politely.

_Haha, try to smirk your way out of that one. _Unbelievably the boy _did_ smirk. "I'm sorry. It's the clothes she's wearing...well…" Rhyme was wearing orange pyjamas and was for once without a hat and Joshua's line of sight was directed at her upper half.

"Jus' cause she's not wearing a skirt don't mean she's a guy," said Beat

Beat completely missed Joshua's point and no one bothered telling him that it didn't matter if she was wearing a skirt since she had a blanket on. Neku nudged Joshua roughly while Rhyme drew up her blanket up to her neck.

"Don't worry about it Rhyme. Just keep drinking milk and I'm sure that -"

"I'm a guy too but have some delicacy," Neku said harshly, hitting the back of Joshua's head. "Are you like this with all girls?"

"Only the interesting ones," he said, with a smug smile. "Although I suppose middle school students should be cleared from my target range."

"...I'm in the year below Beat," Rhyme corrected, though it was muffled behind the blanket now up to her nose.

"Oh dear, then you _certainly_ do need to have more dairy in your diet to-"

"Beat, I know you don't understand, but for Rhyme's sake hit this guy again."

Complying, Beat punched Joshua's shoulder and again, he did not cry out but he twitched as he rubbed his it.

Neku shook his head. He wasn't sure if he should be more disgusted at Joshua for where he was first looking at or that he did that while thinking Rhyme was in middle school.

"I was only joking," said Joshua lightly. "People often confuse my gender too. I suppose my looks transcend those of ordinary men."

Rhyme cautiously lowered down her cover. "I can see where they're coming from."

He sighed and twirled his hair. "Sometimes I think I should give up learning and just become a model. The world needs looks like mine."

She laughed quietly. _Huh, he managed to save his ass._

Like the good big brother he was, Beat went over to Rhyme and checked her temperature with the thermometer that was lying on her wooden bedside table. "Thirty seven degrees. Seems good to me."

"Yep, I told Mum and Dad that the fever only lasted for a bit," she said, "but staying in bed might have been a good idea because I felt tired all day."

Joshua suddenly rushed over to the bedside too, looking down at her with alarmed eyes.

"What is - ahhhh!" Rhyme started screaming and clutched at her chest. "It's – it's - burning. Beat - !"

Beat jumped from the shock of her scream. "Burning? What's burning? Rhyme!?"

Neku too ran over to the bedside. Rhyme's face was contorted into an expression of pain.

"Open the window," ordered Joshua as he gazed down on Rhyme intensely. Neku didn't hesitate and slid it open. "Move away."

"Bastard! What do you mean, move? That's my sisters who is -"

"I know that," he cut him off calmly. "Now move."

He then shifted his eyes to meet Neku's and he suddenly understood. "Beat, we have to move."

"Why?"

"Just watch." To be honest he didn't know what they were supposed to watch for. Something, or someone, more like, was telling him to let Joshua be.

The boy stretched on his arm so that his palm was facing towards where Rhyme was holding onto. He closed his eyes and Neku watched as wind surged into the room. The pressure increased, focused especially under Joshua's palm.

Suddenly, Neku could see a substance floating around Rhyme...it looked like...particles of black sand.

Joshua's hand began to shake and he held it steady with his other. After a tense few minutes, the sand seeped back into Rhyme and Joshua retracted his arms, falling to the floor on his knees.

"I've looked unsightly twice today," he muttered, letting out uneven breaths.

Wasting no time, Beat went back to Rhyme's side. Her face was picture of peace and a content smile graced her sleeping face. Beat breathed a sigh of relief.

Neku kneeled down next to Joshua and put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Of course I am," he replied with much bravado. "What do you take me for?"

Ignoring that last part, Neku asked, "How did you know she was going to…do that?"

"…" Joshua looked down and then back at Rhyme and Beat. "I can see Souls."

"See s_ouls_?" Neku repeated, eyes widening.

"I've always been able to. I didn't know for sure if they were what I was seeing, but after my conversation with you at lunch I was certain."

"What do they look like?"

"Just small fuzzy balls of light. Everyone has a different colour. Usually people only have one colour for their Soul and it reflects who they are but...sometimes you get ones that have another colour wrapped around them. They're usual and I don't often seem them. I suppose they're the unstable Souls." He lifted a hand and held it against his own chest. "They're always right where someone's hearts would be. Rhyme's was fluctuating."

It then occurred to Neku that it must have been Rhyme's _Soul_ that Joshua was staring at earlier on. _So he can actually be a decent guy…_

"Well, I'm sorry to have bothered you today," he said, standing up and walking towards the door. "If you'll excuse me."

"Hold it," said Beat, turning around to face Joshua. "Where are you going?"

"Home?"

"Yo, I didn't even get to thank you yet." Beat was now standing in front of Joshua with his hand in front of him, waiting for Joshua to shake it.

"Thank me…?" Joshua looked away. "You should be afraid of me."

"Afraid of you?"

"Of course. You saw what I did. It's not normal." He clenched his fists. "The normal reaction is to be afraid."

The normal reaction…_I get it_. Joshua must have tried to do what he just did to Rhyme before this and they must have shunned him for it. People tended to do that when they didn't understand things. _I should know…_

"To hell with normal!" Beat shouted and both Joshua and Neku were taken aback. "I don't know what's up with this crazy wind, aight? And I didn't get what you were goin' on about when you were talking 'bout souls. All I know is that Rhyme's okay now." He grabbed Joshua's hand and shook it.

"…You're an odd person," said Joshua. Nevertheless he smiled his smug smile and shook Beat's hand.

"Now that we're good and all," said Neku as they went back downstairs. "Why don't we order in some ramen? Beat, you were saying how Ramen Don has delivery, weren't you?"

"Hell yeah! Now we're talking."

"Ah, I'll have a bowl Shio ramen then, Neku."

"What? I'm ordering? Fine, in that case you're paying."

"Yeah. Joshua, ain't ya folks rich an' all?"

"Yes, but that doesn't prevent you from paying for your own ramen."

The three of them, to Neku's surprise managed to maintain a pretty good conversation right through them eating ramen. It mostly consisted of Beat talking, then Neku replying to him and finally Joshua making some snide comment. After eating, Joshua was picked up by his limo (_of course he has a limo) _and Neku being dropped off at his house by said limo (_might as well, right?)_.

As Neku headed back towards his building, Joshua called out to him. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Neku looked back and gaped at Joshua holding _his_ phone out of the car window. Neku ran back and snatched it out of his hands.

"Dammit, this was in my pocket!"

"Hee hee, yes it was." _The bastard! _"Beat and I exchanged numbers and we figured you were too stubborn to ask so I had the pleasure of putting both our numbers into it."

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Neku checked his phone to make sure Joshua hadn't messed with any of his contacts.

"By the way, I was just looking at your history; you do seem to like calling Miss Shiki quite a bit. More often than you initially agreed, it seems." He raised his eyebrows. "Wonder what you talk about." He was giggling the whole time he drove away.

He _did _mess with his contacts.

The name for Shiki's number had been replaced in the Roman alphabet that spelt out something in English.

"_My di-ya-ru?" _Neku read out loud.

No clue what that meant. Probably something weird.

At least it gave Neku an incentive to change it to '_Shiki' _now. It had still been 'Stalker' for all this time.

Neku studied his contact list. _Shiki. Beat. Rhyme. Joshua. It's like a list of my friends…_

There was also one more number that was on the list…his mysterious guardian. He almost forgot about him. Hopefully it didn't go the same way round for him, or Neku's pockets would be empty of money next month.

_Wonder what he's like…_

* * *

**AN: Tadaa! …and this was the start…of very beautiful bromances. I enjoy writing Yoshiya but I don't know if I got him right or not. Hmm.**

** Since I last updated it's been said by Nomura that he would like to do a sequel in an interview somewhere. Do it Nomura. Do it. (Although I'm not desperate for one at the moment because Kingdom effin Hearts **_**three **_**is officially being developed). I've only got one more exam to go and then I'm freee.**

* * *

**Thanks for putting this on your favourites: **Servant of the Underworld, ImagineBreaker13, eolhcsullivan452

**Thanks for reviewing: **ElementLegend, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Alex Penedo, Kaiser Spartan, ToTheSkye, Chronic Guardian, Xerzo LotCN, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, GRX3m0m

Sadeyo: **Thank you for your amazing review! I'm really glad you enjoy this fic and I'm honoured you think it'd be good enough for a visual novel. I do enjoy visual novels~ Hope the Joshua in this chapter was up to your standards too.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**- 16/6/2013**

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**Content Notes:**

_**My di-ya-ru**_**: Proper Romanisation is 'my dear'. (lol)**

**Pseudo-poem in chapter 2: If you reread it again it will correspond with this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Ten - Conscious**

Well, today was really amusing.

"_Your Soul is just _leaking_ out that energy."_

I didn't think school would turn out to be so interesting.

"_So Rhyme can fly now?"_

I think I'll really have fun here.

"Don't start treating me like I'm some kind of tragedy."

I'll join you for lunch tomorrow. Hee hee.


	10. Conscious

**Sanctuary**

_I sit down._

_They circle me for a while, slowly, before continuing their frantic pace._

_I take a deep breath._

_They slow again._

_I dive._

_They are suspended._

_I breath out._

_They disperse._

* * *

**Chapter Ten - Conscious**

"So, who exactly makes your _bento_?" asked Neku. Joshua, who joined them for their lunchtime on the rooftop, had beef in his bento today. Beef. What kind of Japanese high-school student puts _beef _in their _bento_?

"One of our cooks," said Joshua, as if there was nothing at all special about his statement. Oh right – the rich kind.

"Not that you need it. People are givin' you free lunch." Beat was openly eyeing the stack of _bento_ boxes that girls (and one or two boys?) gave Joshua. Each was neatly wrapped in a handkerchief, showing that Joshua had not tried to eat any of them.

"I'm not all that hungry," he smiled smugly at Beat's goggling. "You can have them if you want."

With that said, Beat tore open the handkerchiefs and dug into the food, having already finished his. Rhyme giggled at her brother's actions. She recovered enough from yesterday's ordeal enough to be able to come to school.

However…Rhyme had visible specks of black sand particles floating around her. She hadn't mentioned anything about them, but surely she would have noticed. If she could see them, that was. Still, Neku didn't think it was his place to tell her about them.

"Your Soul is just _leaking_ out that energy, Rhyme. Could you perhaps calm yourself down?" Or Joshua could just say it. That worked too.

"Is that what these things are? My Soul?" She waved a hand around the dust, and the particles dispersed, before going back to the same positions they were whizzing around at. "Is that the reason people have been keeping some distance from me today. I asked them what was wrong but they just said 'nothing' and moved away. It didn't look like they could see…this."

"Soul _energy_," Joshua stressed. "Normal people with more stable Souls are naturally repelled by more unstable ones. I think it's a natural reaction their own Soul does to prevent themselves from becoming unstable too."

"Aight! The hell are you all talking about? What is this about a Soul? Am I missin' something?"

_And here's the winning question._ Neku expected Beat to ask it. After seeing his sister shout out in agony like that yesterday, he was bound to. Neku talked to Shiki about the whole incident after he reached home and…

"Beat. Rhyme," he said seriously. "I need to tell you a few things, to clear things up. Joshua already knows all of this – in fact, he probably knows more than I do – but I feel you two should know too." If they were really friends now, then he should be willing to trust them with a few secrets. Hiding things lead to people getting hurt.

Feeling apprehensive, Neku started to explain everything. Even to his own ears, it sounded like he was crazy. At least with Joshua he already knew part of it, but with Beat and Rhyme…

At the end of it, Beat was clutching his head, so much so that his beanie was displacing his hair even more than it usually did. "Lemme get this straight. You've been talkin' to some dead chick called Shiki for 'bout three weeks now."

"Yes."

"And Priss over here can sprout wings and fly, making Priss an Angel. Except when he does that he ain't Priss no more and he's kinda like Priss V-Two. So Priss V-Two was the one who saved you an' Shiki from the other guy, who also has superpowers but ain't like Priss V- Two. An' superpower guy is a thing called a Spirit and Shiki is also a Spirit."

"Yes…"

"It's all 'cause his 'Soul', has gone out of whack. An' Priss can see whacked up Souls and he's tellin' us that Rhyme's got a whacked up Soul too."

"That's right."

"Aight. I gots it." He let go of his hat and then his head snapped up. "So Rhyme can fly now?"

Ugh, why exactly was he worried again? This was Beat. Of course Beat would believe him, because he was, well, _Beat_. From Beat's instant belief, Neku somehow felt reassured that Rhyme was at least thinking about his words a bit more.

"It makes sense," she said slowly. "There's no other way to explain what's been…going on with me. I do have a question, though."

"What is it?" Neku asked, hoping he could be helpful, since Rhyme must be feeling slightly overwhelmed from all this usual information.

"Can I actually fly?" _They're siblings, alright._

"Hee hee. No, you shouldn't be able to," Joshua answered for Neku. "I don't recall the moments when I have wings and it's apparently because my conscious is separate from the pretend-me and _he _isn't human. My Soul is just _that_ unstable. Yours seems to be only in the mild stage, so you're getting a bit of out of the ordinary control. Your Soul is mostly human but it's morphing into one similar to mine. Mine allows me some control of wind and yours does too. Curiously enough, yours is more akin to sand. Black sand, even."

And there was Joshua being long-winded again. No pun intended.

"This sand is leaking out." _He's not done, great. _"When my Soul first became unstable, I didn't know what was happening, of course. I did get a few notes from fake-me to get tips on how to suppress the energy leaking out from me."

"Then yous gonna teach Rhyme how to stop her Soul from spilling, right?" Beat questioned, pointing his chopsticks at Joshua; he had returned to eating Joshua's _bento_ and was now halfway through them all.

"Teach her?" Joshua giggled. "I'm not one for giving lessons."

"Why not?" voiced out Neku. "You love hearing the sound of your own voice and teaching Rhyme would actually give you a good reason."

Joshua cupped his chin with his hand. "Hmm, the person who you want me to teach doesn't seem to be saying anything about the matter."

Rhyme smiled. "Thanks for worrying, Beat, Neku, but I think I want to give it a go of trying to control it myself. Joshua did it by himself."

"I'm afraid you've not been paying attention. I did get a _bit_ of assistance because the other Joshua _did _assist me," he corrected her.

"He's still technically you, though."

"That fake is _not _me." Joshua's tone was harsh as he said that and Rhyme shrunk back. This caused Beat to glare at Joshua, who sighed. "If she doesn't want my help than that's _her _problem." _Make up your mind, do you want to teach her or not? _

Feeling the need to change the subject, Neku spoke up, "I don't know if this would work or not, but Shiki wants to talk to you all." She told him last evening that she wanted to speak to them. He asked her how exactly she planned on doing that and the answer was simple – use his loudspeaker.

Unplugging his headphones from his phone, he took it out from his pocket. Since he couldn't call her he would just have to wait until she decided to call –

"_And now I'm ready to dive in the danger zone. I know for sure because this is the way I am._" There it was.

He clicked the answer button and then chose the loudspeaker option. "Shiki, you there?"

"Yes, can you hear me?" Her voice rang out clearly and the others looked at his phone, intrigued.

"That don't sound like a dead person," Beat commented, finally finished with all the food.

"Why Beat, that's because dead people don't usually speak," said Joshua with a smirk.

Beat threw one of the _bento_ boxes at Joshua, which he narrowly dodged. "Y'know what I mean! Ghosts are meant sound more scary and she doesn't."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said happily. "Neku's just told you all about me but I'll re-introduce myself. I'm Shiki, I don't know my last name but it's nice to meet you!"

"My full name's stupid – call me Beat."

"I'm Raimu Bito but just Rhyme is fine. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Yoshiya Kiryu, at your service. Or Joshua, if you insist."

"And you know who I am," said Neku lastly, feeling pleased that she managed to get through on loudspeaker.

"I'm sure you're delighted to be talking to us," said Joshua. "It must have been a pain having only _Neku_ to talk to for about three weeks."

"Oh, well it wasn't bad. Neku makes good company once you get to know him. Although you're right, he can be a bit of a pain sometimes."

"Look who's talking, Stalker." Oh yes, he went there.

"Not _again_," said Shiki exasperatedly. "For the last time, I'm not stalking you."

"Hmm…Neku has a point though; your behaviour does seem a bit akin to one of a stalker. Hee hee."

"Joshua, not you too!"

"Hey, stop hatin' on Shiki. She's dead, yo."

"Thanks Beat, you're absolutely right. You have to respect the dead."

"Shiki, if you don't mind me asking, how did you die?" Rhyme's question cut through the small talk and the line went silent for a while.

Ah, Neku could understand the feeling Shiki was getting at the moment – she was feeling troubled. The same question must have been plaguing her mind as well… "I forgot to mention, but her amnesia includes her not remembering how she died."

"Oh," said Rhyme quietly, "sorry I asked."

"It's fine! It's fine! No biggie," Shiki said quickly. "I'm sure I'll find out eventually. Oh, that reminds me. Sorry for the trouble, Joshua. Neku has to stick around you just in case the other Joshua pops up."

"Hey, don't go apologising on my behalf when you want to," said Neku. "Besides, _this _guy is the one sticking to me."

Joshua dramatically placed the back of his hand against his forehead. "Oh, but if you all are in desperate need of my presence, who am I to refuse?"

"Get over yourself, Priss."

"My, my, don't be shy. Just admit that even the _opportunity_ to talk to me is a chance you can't afford to lose out on."

…

Joshua dropped his hand and looked around at the lack of retorts and the changed expressions of Neku, Beat and Rhyme. "Is something the matter?"

Shiki started humming and then sang, "shopping at Kiryu -"

"- pick and choose."

"With prices like these-"

"- you can't afford to lose!" Rhyme finished off, causing the four of them to start laughing simultaneously.

"Ha! You s-said it! You're an actual Kiryu an' you said it!" Beat fell onto his back and knocked down the stack of finished _bento_ boxes.

Neku tried to cover his mouth but it didn't do much. "Heh."

"How _very_ amusing," said Joshua, clearly _not_ amused. "I hope you're not making fun of Kiryu."

"No, it's just – haha - it feels so different when you know an actual Kiryu is saying it," Shiki giggled. "I actually like the tune. It's catchy."

"Why thank you. I composed it."

"Wha-? Seriously?" Beat goggled at Joshua. "You can do that?"

"Of course I can," said Joshua smugly. "It was something I came up with when I was _five_."

"That's pretty cool," Rhyme said. "Do you mean you wrote it on sheet music, and everything?"

"No, I came up with it at home on my toy xylophone," said Joshua. "I suppose Father heard it one day and decided to use it for the slogan's tune."

While Rhyme and Beat looked impressed, Neku rolled his eyes. The tune was just a few simple notes, nothing special. It was undeniably catchy but he suspected any five year old must make up a random tune at some point. He remembered having something of his own that he used to hum all the time.

Shiki spoke up again, "Do you play any musical instruments Joshua?" He did seem like the type to.

"Instruments? Hmm." He packed up his bento and stood up. "Father says playing instruments is a waste of time. Shall we go? It's almost time for class."

He headed towards the stairs. Rhyme helped Beat carry his load of empty boxes and they struggled down the steps. Neku connected his phone to his headphones again.

"Joshua sounded different when he mentioned his father." Shiki was right. He almost missed it, but his tone did seem to falter when he mentioned his dad.

"Yeah. I'll talk to you later. Bye." He hung up and ran back to his classroom before the school bell could ring.

xxxxx

After the train ride back into Shibuya, Neku decided to go to Miyashita Park before heading home. He didn't need to go there anymore since he found Joshua, but it became a habit to him. Besides that, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was an ideal day for another one of his walks.

"You don't remember much about your parents either, do you Neku?" Shiki called him again just as he had arrived at the park.

"No," said Neku. "They passed away when I was about four. It was a car crash."

"Right…I'm sorry." Her line went silent for a moment.

"Don't start treating me like I'm some kind of tragedy. Like I said, I don't remember them so I can't miss them."

"That's true."

"So, have you remembered anything about your own parents? If you have them, that is."

"I actually remembered a bit more about them after you had lunch today."

"Hm."

"I think I live with both my parents. I can vaguely remember us going to watch a movie together – all three of us. And the movie was really good. Well, I can't actually remember what the movie was about but it was a good one. I guess I could say that I have an average type of family."

He was about to respond to her when something caught his eye. He thought he saw someone walk pass. Someone with a black hoodie and black wings.

Shiki seemed to have noticed too. "Neku!"

"I know." He picked up his speed, trailing the man; he was headed towards the skate park area. At this time of day it was surprisingly deserted. There was no one skating on the ramps or even sitting at the benches available.

_Wait, there's one other guy here._ It was a person with a red hoodie this time. His hoodie was unzipped, revealing a black undershirt, and he was wearing a black cap under the red hood. He would look like a typical person if he didn't have black wings too.

"BJ, is this the kid you were talking about?"

"Yeah, he's got a Pact," he said, turning around to also face Neku.

"So you just want me to stand watch here in case that glowy dude shows up."

"That's all, Tenho."

"Alright then. Only 'cause Boss said I should." Tenho slipped his hands in his pocket.

"Here I go again!" BJ proclaimed, before rushing towards Neku, palm open.

Neku was ready this time. He managed to sidestep him and got into a defensive position. "Hey, you. What are you trying to do to me?

"Trying to sever your Pact, of course," he charged again but Neku dodged.

"What's a Pact?"

"The contract between the living and Spirits, obviously. Otherwise I wouldn't be here," said BJ. Still trying to make contact with Neku, he tried to get behind him but Neku anticipated it and managed to run the opposite direction.

"We have a contract?" said Shiki in his ear.

The other Spirit looked bored. "BJ, stop joking around and get the job done. Boss hates time-wasters."

"I'm _trying_. This brat is just a bit too fast."

"Then use your wings, stupid!"

"Oh, right!" BJ extended his wings and used them to propel himself towards Neku at a speed that Neku could not avoid.

"Stay away from him!" Shiki yelled. A quick flash of light and then Shiki was visible, standing in front of Neku with her arms crossed in front of her face.

"What is this thing? A cat?" BJ was being blocked by what looked like a black cat plushie. It punched his chest and he was sent spiralling back. "Argh!"

"BJ!" Tenho ran over to his companion and tried to kick away the cat, but it was too nimble for him, and he missed by several inches. The cat then scratched at him and both he and BJ stepped away. "You didn't say anything about overpowered plushies!"

"How was I supposed to know?"

Neku himself was watching the cat apprehensively. _Where did it come from?_ He realised then, that Shiki had one of her arms stretched towards the cat as if she was controlling it. _She _is _controlling it. _It was following the movements of her hands and it was still when her arm was still.

"H-hey, that girl doesn't look too happy with us."

"That's because I'm not. Leave us alone." Her tone was dead serious and so was her expression. Neku had never heard her sound like that before.

"BJ, I think that maybe we should call it a day. We could try again some other time?"

"Y-yeah, we can't be away from Boss for too long anyway."

The two gave Shiki one more frightened glance before flying away.

"They're gone…" Neku said, stepping beside Shiki. "You okay?"

"Yeah…I'm fine," she said. Just as she said that, the cat plush also disappeared from view. "Where did Mr. Mew go?"

"_That_ thing was Mr. Mew? So you make killer dolls…"

"Don't call him a 'killer doll'. It was normal when I first made it. I guess after it died it became a bit more…different…like me."

"If you say so."

She adjusted her body so that she was facing him and Neku noticed that her feet were not _quite_ touching the ground.

"You don't have to actually touch anything. It's like the laws of physics don't apply to you," he stated. "Could you sit in mid-air?"

"Give me a sec." Shiki then stepped back into a sitting position, as if she was actually sitting on a chair. Except there was nothing there but air but it looked pretty bizarre. "This is weird."

"It is." Too weird. "Maybe you should only 'sit' when there are chairs around."

"Er, yeah. This is creeping me out a bit too." She then got back up to her feet, and looked a bit less out of place.

"…"

"It's kind of sad how I can only be seen when those guys are attacking me."

"Yeah." It did bother him too. If Shiki was a Spirit like they were, it was strange how they seemed to be visible all the time. Not only visible, but apparently they were away from whoever they had a Pact with. In any case, the person that had a Pact with them probably knew more about everything than Neku. They called the person 'Boss' and took orders from them. What kind of person must their boss be if he could order them around? Sure he had arguments with Shiki but if he didn't like something he couldn't just _make _her do things, and he wouldn't dream of doing that.

Another thing that bothered him was the cat doll. Was it some kind of extension of Shiki, since it was able to connect attacks with the two Spirits?

"Erm, Neku shouldn't you get home now?"

"Why?"

"I mean, the last time I appeared, you barely made it home before you practically collapsed so –"

Shiki's suggestion came too late, because she got cut off. Neku was overcome with an unrelenting wave of drowsiness, and before he could do anything, he fell unconscious.

xxxxx

When his heavy eyes opened again, he was met with the sight of a white ceiling. Turning his head to his right, he saw that he was in a white room. There was a steady beeping noise; he was connected to a heart monitor. _A hospital?_

The door opened and a blond doctor walked in, clipboard in hand. "Mr. Sakuraba, was it? Please excuse us, but we looked at your identification card in your wallet. Glad to see you're awake."

Awake, yes, but his head was still aching. "How long have I been out?"

"Someone found you passed out at Miyashita Park and called the ambulance. You've only been here for about an hour."

"Oh…"

"We haven't found anything wrong with you, physically – in fact you seem to be very healthy. Have you been suffering from any form of stress, lately?"

Stress? Well, he could call it that. "I guess. School's been a bit tough on me," he invented.

"Not uncommon with boys your age." The doctor noted something down on his clipboard. "Only thing you can do is to rest yourself. We called your guardian using the number on your phone. He should arrive soon." As if on cue, there was a knock on the door to the room. "That must be him now."

The door opened and in walked _Sanae _Neku-must-be-dreaming _Hanekoma. _He couldn't hide his shock, especially since the heart monitor's beeping had a very obvious fluctuation.

"Mr. Hanekoma…" He was exactly like Neku had seen him on TV, trademark sunglasses, styled up black hair and all. Sanae Hanekoma – one of the top producers of CAT Records.

"Haha, bet you didn't think your uncle here was so famous. Pleased to finally meet you, kiddo." He rubbed the back of his head cheerfully. "Well, we already met before, but you were tiny and probably don't remember me from then."

Let it be known right now, that Neku was not entirely recovered yet, and should not be held wholly accounted for what he said next, "Can I get your autograph?"

Yes, he _definitely_ hit his head too hard on the pavement.

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! Ahhh this chapter was hard to write. Or more like, I didn't know how I was going to end with exactly and how the next chapter was going to start so I got stuck. If it seems not as good as I usually write, then I apologise. Anyway, oh look it's Hanekoma. It's a good thing I wasn't trying to make him a surprise, because most of you guessed it was him anyway. **

**Since I last updated I've finished my exams. Yay! Maybe I'll be able to write more…hmm. For Part 1 of Sanctuary I updated every other Friday and for Part 2, I'm now updating every other Sunday (according to where I am) but if I have enough time I might start updating weekly. Who knows.**

**...woah we're already at chapter 10. We're -checks plans- about halfway through the fic.**

* * *

**Thanks for the follows/favourites**: TwilaStryker, Reilie, Omega Zekrom, Vaust Mortifera, M BillaQ, RandomReader13, Blader 25, MySweetYaoi49, eolhcsullivan452

**Thanks for the reviews:** B.A.G-GOMEZ, Xerzo LotCN, Kaiser Spartan, Alex Penedo, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, GRX3m0m, Foxxel, Reilie, eolhcsullivan452

**Same number of follows/faves and reviews [nine each] :'D Pretty cool! Thanks for reading!**

**Content Notes:**

**Beef in Yoshiya's bento - It's very unusual to put beef in a packed lunch. Sushi or sashimi is the norm for any Japanese student.**

* * *

******Chapter Eleven - Song**

We nearly got our asses handed by a freakin' cat toy.

_**"**Sounds like someone's a big fan."_

BJ, you're reporting this to Boss, not me.

_"I don't really remember you from then. Sorry."_

Oh. Phew. Boss is busy...we can wait until later.

_"Okami!"_

Why couldn't my afterlife be peaceful?


	11. Song

**Sanctuary**

_Ain't fun being left out._

_It's confusin'._

_How am _I _the stable one, yo?_

_I don't understand but issokay._

_I'll protect everyone – no matter what._

* * *

**Chapter Eleven - Song**

"Yammer! Stop looking at your feet while you're dribbling. You're going to trip over the ball again!" Neku called out as the younger player then, of course, fell over. He groaned – how exactly did this team win against Odaiba Academy, again?

"Yo, Neku, continue with your story, man." Beat and Neku were currently having a water break from their morning soccer practice. The rest of the team were on the pitch, with half the members playing against the other half. Coach Higashizawa was stood on the sidelines nearby, shouting words of encouragement.

"He walked in and I was sort of surprised. I mean, it's _the _Sanae Hanekoma. _The _Mr. H." He could not emphasise the fact any more that he was actually related to _Sanae _freaking _Hanekoma. _"He drove me back home and told me we should have dinner tonight."

"Sounds like someone's a big fan," said Joshua, as if appearing out of nowhere.

"_Bwaaah_!" Beat was obviously caught off-guard. "Where'd you come from?"

"I decided to come to school early today to see what all the fuss about Neku being the Ace was all about." Neku frowned at Joshua's nosiness. "This topic seems to be more interesting, though. I've met Mr. H once too."

"Really?" asked Neku, trying to hide his eagerness. "I was only with him for a short while yesterday. What's he like? Where did you meet him?"

"My, my, calm down. I think it was about a year ago – Father had some business with him and brought me along. He was interesting." _Thanks for being specific. _

"Woah Priss, didn't think you'd be someone who'd wanna meet Mr. H," said Beat. "You into music?"

"I didn't _ask _Father to bring me along. It was strictly for business," said Joshua, clearly. "Although it is necessary to sponsor CAT concerts, Father says that music is unnecessary." There it was again, Neku noticed. Joshua's expression was masked. As a person who always hid his emotions, Neku recognised the effort Joshua was going through to conceal his own.

He was debating whether to call out Joshua on it when Shooter got right up to Neku's face, hands clenched in fists and looking very enthusiastic. "Master Neku! C'mon! You've had a long enough break. You were going to teach me how to slide properly!"

Against Shooter's never-ending flow of energy, Neku had no choice but to follow him back onto the pitch. _Oh well. It can wait. _Who was Neku to pry, anyway?

Xxxxx

"I _have_ to say Neku, I'm rather impressed by your playing."

"Gee, thanks. I'm honoured." Sarcasm was now second hand to Neku when it came to Joshua.

"You should be. Oh? Isn't that Rhyme over there?" Down the corridor, Rhyme spotted them too and ran up to greet them. Her hair looked damp, and it curled up slightly at the ends. "May I ask why your hair is wet?"

"She went swimmin', yo," said Beat. "She's in the swimmin' club, now. She joined them just yesterday." Beat gave off the aura of being very proud of Rhyme and he grinned down at her.

"Hm. This can't have anything to do with trying to control your Soul Energy, can it?" Joshua, crossing his arms.

"Well, it does have a bit to do with it. I used to swim a lot back in elementary but I stopped in junior high because we didn't have good swimming facilities. I thought it would be a good time to get back into it – I think swimming helps me focus better," she said, "I think if I can focus better, I can control my Soul better too."

"Ah…I see." Joshua looked like he wanted to say something but was refraining to.

Neku was then distracted by Shooter catching up to them again. "I just wanted to say thanks again Master Neku for teaching me how to improve Ultimate Shuto. I think it's evolved into Superior Shuto. Doesn't it sound cool?"

"I guess…" _This guy should be a bit more tired after morning practice…_

"So does that mean you manage to perfect the move, Shooter?" asked Rhyme, interested.

"It's _almost_ perfect. I've just got to practice it a few times more and then it'll be the best technique ever!"

"How exactly does it work again?"

"Oh, right! First it – " Shooter and Rhyme began walking past the older students, their conversation now lost to them as the corridor started to get more crowded.

"Huh. They know each other."

"Didn't you know, Neku? They're in the same class, yo."

"Right." Sometimes Neku forgot that Rhyme was in the year below. She was a lot more collected than Beat and if Neku didn't know them any better, he was sure many would mistake Rhyme for being the elder. That is, if they ignored the height differences and based their conclusion on personalities.

"…" Joshua had watched them leave with a frown and it didn't get past Neku.

"What's wrong, Josh?"

"Despite what she said about swimming being good for her, her Soul looks increasingly edgy. If you were looking carefully enough, there was more black sand around her than yesterday."

"She gonna be alright?" Beat's voice was raised in alarm. "I can't see the sand!"

"Settle down. She'll be fine." And then that ever-irritating smirk was back again. "Although if her Soul does go off, don't be surprised if she comes crying to me to teach her." _The idiot just wants to show off his powers. _

Beat retaliated to Joshua by punching his shoulder. "Rhyme ain't gonna cry. She'll do it – I believe in her, just like she believed in me."

"Oh dear, we're getting all sentimental even before school starts."

"School's starting _now_,idiots. C'mon, let's go."

"Bwaaah! Hurry!"

"Beat, _your_ class is the otherway!"

xxxxx

"…_I looked up into the sky for salvation__, b__ut all I could see was the lonely star above. I am not waiting for your confirmation. And yes, I know this is the only start..."_

"Nice timing there, Shiki. We just finished our food, yo," said Beat as Shiki came through on the loudspeaker again.

"Hehe, I see you don't have as many _bento_ as you had yesterday." Her giggle echoed around the group. "What happened today, Joshua?"

"Hm, it seems that the girls might have seen Beat and Rhyme bringing down the boxes yesterday…and figured out they wouldn't waste their time on creating meals that I wouldn't be eating." He neatly packed away his own high-class _bento _box. "Shame, really, they looked so delighted with themselves when they were giving them to me."

"It's not nice to look on other people's feelings," Rhyme scolded. "They must have put a lot of effort into making the _bento_."

"Which is why I am saving them from, as I've already said, wasting their time."

Seeing as there was nothing left to argue, Rhyme dropped the argument with a shrug of her shoulders. While Neku could see what Rhyme was saying, Joshua did have a point as well.

"Hey, Neku," Shiki spoke up after a while.

"Yes?"

"Aren't we going to tell them about the attack, yesterday?"

The shift of the atmosphere at the word 'attack' was instant. Rhyme looked alarmed, Joshua's eyebrows shot up, and Beat looked about ready to jump up and 'attack' something himself. "Yo, what's Shiki talking about?"

Neku didn't tell Beat earlier on _how_ he ended up in the hospital and Beat, being Beat, did not ask. He gave them a short run-down of two he encountered the day before, and they all looked very concerned. _This is why I didn't want to tell them…_

Joshua put a hand into his trouser's pocket and pulled out a folded note. Carefully unfolding it, he read it out loud. "Dear Yoshiya. Blue and Green have almost been separated. We do not want this. Please watch over them more carefully - or else we will be at a disadvantage once more. Through strengthening of the Soul, Blue should be able to call upon Green. Green will protect. Do not worry if you do not grasp what I am getting at. It will be clear, soon enough. – Joshua." He put down the note and his violet eyes met Neku's. "I thought the fake was just being a nuisance and feeding me random riddles again, but it seems to be relevant this time."

He nodded, understandingly. "Bet you get a lot of unhelpful notes."

"Regularly. 'Don't worry if you don't grasp what I'm getting at'. I _am _worried because if he wants to write something down, I end up on the floor like a puppet with its strings cut." He crumpled the note; he didn't _look _angry but his actions said otherwise. "He always manages to make a mockery out of me."

"Do you always faint when he wants to come out?" asked Rhyme, meekly.

"Unfortunately, yes." He closed his eyes. "Depending on how long the Fake is out and about for, I can stay unconscious for a long time."

"Watchu mean by long?"

"Several hours, usually. Sometimes it's for several days, even," he admitted bitterly. "He simply has no courtesy. Does he not _know _that it's an inconvenience to both me and everyone around me? I came three weeks after school started – that was because I was stuck at home. Every time the family doctor thought I recovered enough to go to school, I would go unconscious again." He stopped himself now, turning his head away.

"I'm so sorry, Joshua," said Shiki. "He did show up in front of Neku just before we met and I think he was writing notes to us."

"No, it's not your fault." Joshua said this more to right her than to comfort her. "I got snapshots of him roaming about places that I don't think any of you have gone to recently. I think it just strains my Soul if he keeps taking on a form out of my body."

"If that's the case, then it really _is _our fault. It must have taken a lot of energy to have brought over Nimew to Neku's apartment."

"…Nimew?" Joshua looked towards the phone, confused.

"It's your cat. Or at least, we think it's your cat. It got sent to my flat with a note from the Other Joshua. It's got black fur and a serious attitude problem."

Recognition poured onto Joshua's face. "Ah, you mean Nigrum."

Neku and Beat blinked at Joshua, while Shiki remained silent. "Is that English?"

"It's Latin for black," said Rhyme, helpfully.

"We do have at least _one_ knowledgeable person besides me," said Joshua with an appreciative nod towards Rhyme.

Neku gave him the obligatory eye roll of the day. "If you wanted to name it for its fur colour, going with '_Kuro' _would have been completely fine."

"The Latin word sounds so much more beautiful than the Japanese one, though," Joshua pointed.

"What Japanese person knows Latin, yo?" Beat looked scandalised by the revelation and stared at both Rhyme and Joshua as if they were crazy.

Rhyme poked her brother. "Dad wanted us to try it out, remember?"

"Oh yeah. 'Said somethin' about being more culted." _I'm sure he means 'cultured'. _He crossed his arms. "Hell, I can't do English, how am I supposed to do Latin?"

"Forget English. You can't even handle Japanese yet," said Neku.

"Damn straight!" He paused then glared at Neku. "Wait a minute!"

The other four laughed, and Beat eventually started chuckling along with them too.

"At least we got the '_Ni' _character the same," Shiki said positively. "Aside from that, aren't we getting kinda off topic. I thought we were talking about the note Joshua got and us being sprung on?"

The laughter ebbed away slowly. Rhyme looked the most worried of all, "There's always a chance that they'll attack again. As they say, 'what happens twice happens thrice'."

"Although that's true," said Joshua, "they also say, 'third time's the charm'. Like my note says, I think we should try and get Neku to learn how to get Shiki's visible form out by will since she can use her...toy cat to fight. Then we might be able to somehow catch those Spirits and get them to tell us who wants them to 'sever' the 'Pacts' that they talk about."

"How are we going to do that?" asked the Spirit on the phone.

"I'll think of something," Joshua assured her. "One of my Soul relaxing training methods might work. Or perhaps we have to make your Soul more unstable. I'm not sure yet, but by tomorrow I'll have something ready." He glanced at Rhyme. "You're free to join us if you'd like."

She smiled but shook her head. "Thanks, but I think I can manage."

"Yeah! An' I got Rhyme's back. I'll stay with her while she does her own training!" He hooked an arm around her shoulder and gave her a noogie, much to her protest. "But first, Phones. You gotta get ready for your dinner with Mr. H tonight."

"Yep! And then you can get the autograph you want so much."

"_Shiki!"_

xxxxx

Neku wasn't quite sure what to expect when he was invited by his uncle to dinner. He asked if he needed to dress up more formally, but his uncle chuckled and told him that his casual clothes would be fine. Still, he hadn't imagined having dinner at Outback Café. Being just outside the 104 building, it was very busy and very loud and almost unbearably crowded. He spotted Hanekoma already seated in a corner, the other seat saved for him. It was a wonder that he managed to get a space free.

"Hi," he said, feeling slightly nervous as he sat down. He was hoping that Hanekoma had forgotten that embarrassing outburst he had in the hospital, but he could never be too sure.

"Heya," said the man with a grin, eyes glinting behind his shades. "Must be wonderin' why we're having dinner here. I thought we'd just have a quick bite and head over to my studio."

"You mean the _CAT_ studio?"

"The one and only."

"Sounds cool." _Stay calm Neku. Stay calm. _He was excited as hell though. It was a good thing he was a light eater, but even if he wasn't he probably would have ordered something small just so that they could get to the studio quicker.

Being a café, it didn't have much of a menu anyway, so he picked a random sandwich of the menu. Hanekoma ordered a sandwich too, along with a doughnut and a medium roast coffee. Hanekoma still had his coffee in hand as they entered they entered the TV Tokyo building and took the elevator all the way to the twenty first floor.

"TV Tokyo has a big investment with CAT so they've let us have a few floors in this building. We've got another building in Kyoto and a really big one in Sapporo. Ah, you were in Sapporo before this, weren't you?"

"Not exactly. I did live in Hokkaido but not in the capital. I was about two hours away."

"That's right, that's right," he said, nodding as if he already knew that.

The elevator came to a smooth stop, and the metal doors opened to reveal a brightly lit floor. There were several rows of desks on one side and the other side was where Neku presumed the actual recording studio was. They made their way into Hanekoma's personal office. As they did, a lot of the desk workers looked up and said 'welcome back' to Hanekoma who shot them back a grin; he seemed to be very well liked among his employees.

Hanekoma sat down behind his own glass desk and Neku sat in the chair opposite of him. His eyes wandered around the room, taking in the posters that were hanging on them. They were all of artists that Hanekoma was credited to helping make famous.

"Recognize any of them?"

"Er, yeah. The band in the middle is S.S. Ice, right?"

"Bingo. They're actually down at Dizni Sea for the start of their tour."

"Right."

…now what?

His guardian was looking at him as if expecting him to speak. There was something about Hanekoma that made him what to talk to him too, but he couldn't think of anything to say to start off a conversation. That and he was wary that another stupid thing might come out of his mouth if he tried to say anything.

He really was helpless. Fortunately for him, Hanekoma smiled, noticing his discomfort and decided to talk again. "You seem to be really into music."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Heh, I could tell from your 'phones." He gestured towards the headphones hanging around Neku's neck. "They're the type that you gotta keep money for."

Neku nodded – he did save up for a period of time so that he would be able to afford buying these headphones; good quality headphones were expensive.

"What kinda music do you like?"

"Anything, really," he said with a shrug. It was true. He could listen to just about all the genres out there. If he liked the song then he would listen to it. Popularity didn't mean a thing to him.

"Even the classics?"

Neku smiled, knowing what he was referring to. "Yep, I listen to Classic CAT too."

"That's good, that's good. I take it you know Okami, then?"

"Okami?"

"You know, _Okami!_"

"Sorry, never heard of Okami before. Is that a new artist?"

"Kind of." Hanekoma laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Surprised you haven't heard of her as a music fan. She's got videos on Nicoh Nicoh Doga of her playing self-composed violin pieces and she's grown really popular online."

"That explains it. I don't have a computer."

"That makes sense, then. The thing is, in the videos she wears an Okami mask, so we can't tell who she is."

"A wolf mask. So that's why she calls herself Okami."

"You got it. We're tryin' to see if we can recruit her for an instrumental track in our new Classic CAT album but we have to find her first. We don't have any clues but we're trying to contact her through her account. No answer though. She doesn't socialise online except for posting the videos but the site records logins and she checks it daily. It seems like she hasn't logged into her account for about three weeks in a row now, though. Wonder if something happened to her."

_Three weeks? That was around the time Shiki appeared._ _Maybe she's…_ It did seem a little too farfetched to think that Shiki was Okami. Although even if she had been, he didn't think it would make that much difference. If Okami _was _Shiki, Okami didn't socialise online so nothing would be known about her and there wouldn't be anything new to learn about Shiki either.

"You okay?" Neku was pulled out of his thoughts by Hanekoma.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"So, I heard from your previous family that you've been bouncing along places a lot. I didn't hear the whole story from them, though. Wanna fill me in on that?"

He was slightly thrown off by the sudden change of topics. _Guess I'll start at the beginning. _"After my parents died, I was sent to stay with my grandparents in the Akita prefecture. I was around four. My grand-dad passed away six months later, though and my grandma was too frail to take care of me by herself so I was sent to live with my mum's sister. She was young and she got married just over a year later. He was from Germany and they wanted to move there. She thought it'd be unfair to force me to go so I was sent to another aunt."

Maybe he was just a child of bad luck, because every time he was sent to a relative there seemed to be some reason to have to pass him along. He was old enough, now, too realise that it wasn't as if his relatives were cruel people, but the feeling of being abandoned was something that was set in his mind as a child. He never grew too attached to the adults he stayed with, because he knew he would leave them before long.

With that being the case, there wasn't much opportunity for him to make friends that lasted since he moved around so much.

"I was with a different uncle and his family in Shibuya for my first two years in junior high before moving to Hokkaido." Looking at it now, the Hokkaido family must have had Neku at his worse…he felt kind of bad for them now… "And well I'm obviously back here again."

"Sounds like you've had it pretty rough, kiddo." He studied Hanekoma's expression – it wasn't as if he was pitying him, but it did feel as if he _understood_ Neku. "Well, you don't have to worry about moving around anymore. I may move around a lot myself from time to time for business, but I'm based in Shibuya and I don't plan on changing that any time soon. You have my word."

Unlike many of the adults who promised that they would stay with him, his words sounded sincere. There was no explanation as to why, but Neku believed him.

"Thanks…Uncle H."

* * *

**A/N: Tadaaaa! 8D We've got a more relaxed chapter here with more Uncle H. in it :D I don't think I've got his character nailed down quite yet but I'll work on it. Anyyywayy, TWEWY day is on the 27****th****! The 6****th**** anniversary, at least. And apparently there's some sort of event for it. I wonder what it'll be…Hmm.**

**On random notes, if you guys have tumblr and write/draw, I'd like to advertise the Big Bang for the TWEWY fandom is going to have. If you want to know what that is go visit ' .com". I'll be writing for that too – not sure what I'm writing yet but I'll do something.**

**That updating weekly thing will probably not be happening. I think I'm still busy in the summer…besides, you guys are used to my 'every two week' schedule :'D**

* * *

**Thanks to those who put this on favourite/followed this fic:** Canadalchemist, en gul fed, crimson-dust-blade, Ide-chan, amazingakita, Prussianess

**Thanks to my lovely, lovely reviewers:** Xerzo LotCN, Reilie, MySweetYaoi49, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER, B.A.G-GOMEZ, eolhcsullivan452, Canadalchemist, crimson-dust-blade, Foxxel, Prussianess , cutekitty5597

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**Content notes:**

**Kyoto is another city in Japan.**

**Hokkaido is another prefecture in Japan and Sapporo is its capital city. (Look up the map of Japan for these locations if you want a clearer picture).**

**TV Tokyo – a Japanese TV station (specialises in anime). Hmm I wonder if I could get sued for this. NAHH probably not. I don't own TWEWY? Disclaimers in content notes ftw.**

**Okami – This means 'wolf' in Japanese (well basically explained but just in case…). Type in 'Japanese wolf mask' into google images if you want to know what it looks like. You can get them in some Japanese festivals and such. And online of course xD [Edit: And there's a game called Okami. Never played it before but there ya go].**

**Thanks for reading!**

**- 14 July 2013**

* * *

**Chapter 12 – A****ssumptions**

Hey! Hey! Hey!

_"Yo, Josh. Hang in there."_

I got to be in another chapter with Master Neku!

_"Could we visit your house, Joshua?"_

Master Neku is always busy.

_"It's good enough for Father."_

Erm, Rhyme, are you feeling okay?


	12. Assumptions

__**Sanctuary**

_Humans._

_They think they know everything._

_Even though they are bigger, they see less._

_Silly humans._

* * *

**Chapter Twelve- Assumptions**

The passengers of the train swayed as it bumped its way along the rails, speeding back to Shibuya. With a safe grip on one of the handrails above, Neku fiddled with the headphones around his neck. He was thinking of putting them on again, because the train was exceptionally fuller than usual, when his ash-blond haired companion yelped in surprise as the train gave a large jolt.

"Yo, Priss. Hang in there," Beat called down as the other squirmed in his seat.

For all his grace and airs, Joshua was a funny sight to see when he was sitting on the train. Rhyme tried to pat his back from the seat beside him to console him; it looked a bit patronising in Neku's point of view, though, and Joshua must have thought it too because he sat up straight and cleared his throat, effectively causing Rhyme to pull her hand away. "I'm fine."

Raising his voice a tad louder so that Joshua could actually hear him above the noise, Neku said, "You could always call your driver to pick you up."

"Yes, but it is a _wonderful_ day and I think I would like to walk back home from the station." The view of the sky out the windows, of dark grey puffs of clouds, said otherwise. Neku would bet all his money that it was going to rain within the hour.

By the time the train pulled out of the station, Joshua was staggering out of the train (like he had done the previous times). He didn't say anything to Neku and Beat's unrestrained snickers as they passed out of the exit. He did, though, stop short when he saw a man dressed in a suit standing at the bottom of the station exit, arms crossed and not looking very amused.

"Ain't that your ride?" asked Beat, staring at the black limousine parked in front of the station. "And who's the dude?"

"Yes, that's my car," Joshua muttered. "And he's my butler."

_His butl – oh I shouldn't even be surprised. _They walked down the stairs and when they reached his butler, he gave Joshua a glare. "Master Yoshiya, where did you think you were going?" Well, Neku assumed it was a glare because he couldn't actually see his eyes behind the sunglasses he wore.

"Mr. Kitaniji. I was about to take a leisurely stroll back home," he said, sounding innocent enough.

"Walking home from here would take at least a few hours. By then, Master Kiryu would have called to check in and it would have been me who would have to answer the question as to why his son was not home," he said, adjusting his shades. _I bet that's not a normal thing for butlers. _"Let's go back, it is going to rain soon anyway."

"No, thank you. Please go on without me Mr. Kitaniji."

Joshua and Kitaniji were having what looked like a stand-off, neither the former nor the latter looking willing to give in.

"Could we visit your house, Joshua?" Their intense staring competition was interrupted by Rhyme.

"Yeah," Neku said, catching on with what Rhyme was doing. "You like to talk about Kiryu so much, so maybe we should go visit where all the great ideas come from." He could practically see Joshua's resolve of being stubborn wavering.

"Eh, it ain't gonna be that great, is it? It's Priss' place, yo." _And that was Beat for today, folks, thank you very much. _

All that was left was to see if Joshua was going to take the bait.

"Mr. Kitaniji, call the house to inform them that we are about to have guests."

Yep, he took the bait.

xxxxx

Kitaniji's claim that it would take Joshua over an hour to walk to his home was not an exaggeration. If it was about an hour away from Shibuya as a drive, he couldn't imagine how long it would take to _walk _home.

"How come you didn't go to a school nearer to your place?" Neku would think that it would make more sense to attend somewhere closer, since if he was driven from here to Ebisu that would be about two hours in total.

"The schools in this area don't have as great rates for getting into university as Ebisu," he answered.

"It's not like our high school is one of the top though," Neku pointed out.

"It's good enough for Father." He paused and then regarded Beat. "Although now that you mentioned it, Father thinks that my academic success is essential and would never let me go to an easy school…so how did someone like Beat get in?"

Good question. Neku's entrance tests weren't too difficult but they weren't particularly _easy_. "Maybe first year exams are easier than transfers."

Rhyme shook her head. "I don't think that they were made to be easy. Beat worked really, really hard before taking the entrance exams."

"That's right, yo!"

"…"

" 'Phones, Priss, cut it out! Stop lookin' at me like that."

"…"

"And don't you start accusin' me of cheatin' or anything."

"…"

"This is actually getting' pretty insultin'!"

Before Beat could get even more worked up about their growing suspicions about how exactly Beat got into their school, the limo drove through large black gates where an enormous house – no - mansion came into view. They were all struck by the sheer grandeur of it, with its glistening white walls and the beautiful garden that surrounded the building. "Yo, that's insane!"

"This is _Tokyo_," said Neku. "How did you even get the land for this? We might not be in Shibuya but we're still in Tokyo."

"There are still some parts reserved for residency, silly Neku. Money can get you anything," Joshua said in a tone akin to what one would use to teach a pre-school student.

The car came to a complete stop, and the driver opened the door for them; they walked up white marble steps to the front entrance. The door was pulled open and they were faced with two rows of (_this _is _insane_) maids lined up on either side of the grand staircase. Each one bowed and said, "Welcome back Young Master."

"This is a bit surreal," Rhyme said, covering her mouth.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it," said Joshua. "Since we're here earlier than planned, I think I'll make a call to my Father first. He's in Kyoto for business and he'll be back tomorrow morning." He summoned Kitaniji. "Please show the guests around the house. I'll be in Father's study for the mean time." He turned back to his friends. "I'll join you guys later. Don't miss me too much, I'll be quick."

_He really is a 'young master'. _Neku watched as Joshua headed up the stairs and turned to the right. Once he had left, the maids all dispersed, hurrying along to continue on with whatever chore they were doing.

"That was weird," Beat commented. Neku and Rhyme could only nod in agreement.

Kitaniji cleared his throat. "As Master Yoshiya has requested, I will give you a short tour of the Kiryu household. Please follow me."

Joshua's butler led them throughout the mansion. Neku would think it impossible, seeing as how big it looked from the driveway, but the interior of the mansion felt more spacious than the first look gave away. Maybe it was because the house had about a dozen rooms on each floor, and there were three floors. Maybe it was the size of the kitchen and the dining room, which was big enough to be a restaurant on its own. Or maybe it was Beat's constant '_this place is _huge-ass'(but that kind of just made Neku want to laugh).

They did not miss a single room…until they walked straight past one with a very red door. It was bright red and did not fit the toned down colour scheme of the rest of the mansion. As Kitaniji continued walking ahead talking about the house as he did, the trio stopped following him.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Beat asked, hand already on the doorknob of the red door.

"For once, I think I am," said Neku, feeling equally rebellious today.

"Curiosity killed the cat…" Rhyme reminded them, though she did not try to stop them.

Entering the room, they found that it was, again, large. It was also full of all kinds of musical instruments. There were cellos, trombones, tubas, flutes, violins, saxophones and a lot more instruments that even Neku couldn't trust himself to name.

As a music lover, Neku couldn't help but feel elated at being in the presence of so many instruments. Even Beat seemed impressed, as he picked up a clarinet, debating whether or not to blow on it. Rhyme was visibly enraptured by one instrument in particular at the very back of the room; on a raised platform was an ivory black grand piano. She hopped along to it, tracing a finger along the white keys and pressing gently on a note.

"That note happens to be 'middle C', in case you didn't know." Joshua stood at the doorway, looking at the three of them with an amused smirk.

"I didn't know. I don't play anything," said Rhyme, pressing the note again, as the boys gathered around the piano.

"You should give one a try. The piano is a good one to start with if any. They say if you can play the piano, you can play anything." He gestured towards the seat and Rhyme moved aside, to let him take over.

Joshua started playing.

And hell he was brilliant.

It was a lively piece, a beautiful one where the notes melded together to create the perfect sound.

Once he finished, he looked up at them with his aren't-I-amazing smirk.

Neku didn't want to believe that _Joshua_ of all people could play like that, but _credit where credit's due. _"That was…good." That's still all Joshua was going to get out of him.

Beat and Rhyme were a lot more generous with their compliments, Beat spouting out nonsense like, "that was a sick tune, man. An' it ain't even rap." Rhyme was actually clapping.

"Aw, please stop. You're making me blush," he said, with an off-hand-ish wave. He was really eating all this up.

"Alright, alright if his ego grows any bigger even this mansion won't be able to hold it," said Neku. "I thought you said you didn't play, Josh."

He waved a finger at Neku. "I recall my exact words were that Father thinks it is a waste of time, hence why the room is marked red – for 'no entry'. I never said I didn't play anything."_ Of course._

"That is true," said Rhyme with a giggle. "I didn't expect you to be great at the piano too, Joshua. Which reminds, me, is your Okami violin in this room?"

There was a pause as Joshua considered the younger girl's question. A long enough pause for Neku to register what Rhyme had just suggested.

"Hold up. _Joshua_ is Okami? I thought Okami was a girl?" He thought Okami could have possibly been Shiki.

"Those are just assumptions that people made about Okami," Joshua said. "And why not let them? Saves my identity."

"…"

"So how did you figure it out, Rhyme dear?"

"Well you have the piece you just played, the one titled 'Joshua'. Most people think it's a song about a man that Okami might be in love with but it's not impossible that it was named after Okami himself. And after Neku introduced you, it was quite obvious."

"No one calls me Joshua, so yes, no one would have guessed if they didn't call me that. I seriously thought you figured it out Neku. I even asked if you were my fan when we first met."

"I forgot about that, okay?" Neku glared at Joshua's condescending tone. "I didn't _know _you even had a piece called 'Joshua'."

"That's my most famed piece," Joshua pointed out. "Unless, you're saying you haven't actually watched any of my videos?"

"…"

"You haven't. Oh Neku, I'm hurt."

"Even I've watched that one, Phones'."

"'Joshua' as a piece was actually Japan's most viral video last month."

"I don't use the internet that much." Alright, now Neku was getting pissed off. They were all looking at him as if they pitied him for not having heard of the piece. "Why are you making all these videos, anyway?"

Joshua held a finger to his lips. "That one's still my secret." He got up from the seat. "The Okami violin is in my room. Perhaps I'll show it to you later. It surprised me that you stayed in this room, though. I would have thought you would prefer the games room."

Neku, Beat and Rhyme said in unison, "A games room?"

"Yes, I've got several games such as the Samurai's Cre-"

"The hell we still here for? Les' go Priss!"

xxxxx

Friday came and went uneventfully. Rhyme was still hard at work, trying to contain her Soul energy, Beat was helping her with it, and Joshua was still a prick. Shiki was the same as ever.

Neku felt lucky to have her, when she had called him to talk about the revelation of Joshua being Okami. She hadn't seen the videos either, or at least couldn't recall watching them, so she couldn't call Neku out for not seeing them. She did chuckle when Neku told her he previously suspected her of being Okami. "I'm used to working with strings, but not that kind," she had said.

"…you know how, deceive me, kick over the trace…"

That was her now.

"Morning Neku! What are we going to do today?"

"You mean what am _I _going to do today," he said as he put on his shoes.

"Details, details."

"_Meow_."

"What Nimew said. I'm taking it out to Miyashita Park. I think if I keep it in here with just me for any longer, it's going to want to mutilate my face in my sleep." Neku watched as Nimew held out a paw, its claws out, as if to make a point. "I was half-joking there." His cat was really scary.

He opened the front door and Nimew trotted out first, and Neku walked a step behind it.

"So. Joshua said that Other Joshua said that we should find a way you to call me out. And to do that…"

"We've got to strengthen our Pact. Not that Mr. Unhelpful told us how."

"Joshua did tell us that we should try talking to each other more. The Pact's strength is supposed to come from your Soul rather than any physical ability and if we talk then our Souls will become closer. Or at least that's what he told us."

"We already talk to each other every day," said Neku. "How much more can we talk?"

"I think what Joshua means is that we should really open up to each other. Leave nothing a secret!"

"Nothing…" Neku agreed that secrets weren't a good thing. "It's not really a 'secret' but…" There were still some things he wasn't ready to talk about.

Shiki must have felt his sentiment because she said, "It's alright. We'll just take it slow. I said this last time, but you can tell me when you're ready."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Though, I have to tell you I'm still a little peeved at you."

"For what?"

"I have to prod you again and again for you to tell me things, but you told Mr. H our whole life's story in one go! How is that fair?"

"You were bothered by that?" _Why would she be bothered?_

"A little…"

"C'mon, you can't tell me that if it had been you talking to him, you wouldn't have said even more than me." If Mr. H could get _him _to talk that much, he could bet that Shiki would have said at least ten times as much.

"Hmph." He could just imagine her puffing out he cheeks. "Fine, you got me there. I guess it's alright since you like Mr. H a whole lot more than you like me."

"How'd you come up with that?"

"You _are _his number one biggest fanboy."

"I am not a 'fanboy'." He did not like that term.

"Says the guy who has every album of CAT that was produced by him, even the bad ones."

_Bad ones -?! _"There are no bad ones!"

"How about 'The Sixth Code'?"

_Oh, right…_"That wasn't…bad, just…different."

"You _played_ all of them in a row for me once, and The Sixth Code made me wish I could die again."

"You should be glad I even played them for you."

"Why?"

"I've never played my tunes for anyone before – you're the first."

"Really?"

"Yes, _really_."

He could feel happiness bubbling up from Shiki's Soul to his. To the point that it was getting a bit embarrassing how happy she was about that. Did she really care about it that much?

And was he imagining things, again, or did he just feel a tiny bit something else from her? It wasn't happiness. He recognised that enough, and it was similar but different at the same time. _What is it…?_

"Meoooowwwww." Neku stopped short as he looked down and saw Nimew practically grinningup at him.

"_Shut up."_ Whatever Nimew was saying with that mew was probably worth a 'shut up', even if Neku wasn't sure what exactly it meant. He nodded his head forward to let Nimew know to keep on going; they were about halfway to Miyashita Park now.

"Let's do the usual. You can talk about something. I'll just listen."

"Alright then. Let me see…hairstyles! I don't think we've ever talked about hairstyles with each other before."

"Yeah, because it would be stupid."

"Hey, you said you were just going to be listening. And what's so stupid about it?"

"One, it's just _hair _and two, how is that personal?"

"I'm sure I've said this before, but your appearance is important. It's not the most important thing about a person – of course not – but no matter who you are, one way or another, you're going to judge someone by their looks. It's not about being shallow or not, it's in human nature. Hair falls under that category too.

"It can even be a clue to your personality. Isn't that cool? For example, long hair means someone who's more 'adventurous'. If you've got something similar to a bob, you're someone more 'assertive'." _Like you? _"If a girl has a cropped hairstyle, it usually means she's tough.

"It's not all that different for guys. Take the difference between Beat and Joshua. Beat's closer to a buzz cut, and he's the tough guy of our group. Joshua's got longer hair, and he's a lot more extravagant."

Neku started tugging at the tip of one of his spikes. "And for people like me?"

"Spikes?" Shiki seemed to need to ponder for this. "It either means a more rebellious person or a 'hero' type."

"A _hero _type?"

"Yeah! Think about it, all the cool main characters out there have spiky hair!"

"That's true enough…" They talked about the strangest things. Neku didn't mind too much, though. It was starting to feel relaxing to him, a contrast to when he used to find her annoying.

His calm was interrupted by a loud hiss from Nimew.

Neku slowed to a stop again and looked around. They were just about to cross the road that led to the entrance of Miyashita Park; there was nothing out of the ordinary. "What's up Nimew?"

"_Arrghhh!"_

Right. Shiki was screaming through the phone. He felt the anguish course through him too. It wasn't his own pain –

"_Gah!"_

Okay, _now_ his head was hurting too.

He clutched it, waiting for the pain to subside and hoping he wouldn't end up passing out again. The pain did ebb away, until eventually it was nothing but a dull throb. "You alive there, Shiki?"

"Very funny, Neku. But yeah I'm okay. Except…"

"Except…?"

"The images are still a bit fuzzy, but I think that the memory is coming back."

"Which one?"

"Of me dying."

…

"What do you remember?"

"There was a lot of sound…honking noises from cars. Headlights, too."

"Sounds like you died in an accident."

"An accident? That does feel right…" Crap, her voice was shaking.

"Anything else?"

"There's an image of a large vehicle…I remember being scared. A – a lorry?"

_A lorry…and an accident? Wait…_

Before Neku could think about it anymore, he heard the ring of an incoming call on his phone. He took it out of his pocket – it was Beat. Putting Shiki on hold, temporarily, he answered the call.

"Neku! Neku pick up man – ya gotta pick up." His voice was worryingly urgent.

"Beat!" he shouted. "I'm here. What's wrong?"

"It's – and it's my fault…I should've been watchin'…I should've, I should've – " Beat was incoherent, and the next thing he knew, there was a shuffle on the other end.

"Neku."

"Joshua?"

There was a sound of a door opening and yells from Beat, which sounded a lot like 'hurry up!'.

"We've just arrived at the Shibuya General Hospital."

_The hospital? _"_What?"_

"It's Rhyme. She's almost drowned and she's unconscious and – no, Beat, _that way_ – I can't talk now. Just get over here."

Joshua hung up and Neku swore.

Just when he thought his weekend was going to be peaceful, life decided to kick him in the face and go on a riot. He didn't need to say anything to Shiki, as he started running.

_Hang in there Rhyme._

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! Rhyme shall be hanging in there. Like you guys will. –shot for a bad joke-. Ahem. The TWEWY 6****th**** Anniversary was two days ago and there was another Crossover concert which I sadly missed **** Hope whoever managed to watch it, enjoyed it! I'll probably replay TWEWY soon…it'll probably enhance my writing, hopefully.**

* * *

**Thanks to those who puts this on favourite/started following: **Rue-the-Marauder, Eternity Guarded, OZZX, Clogallie, suika-kun, Ice Suicune, LightDark2XD, SapphireOfTheCrescentMoon, remixofdestiny

**Thanks to my reviewers: **Alex Penedo, RagnartheSemiGreen, Xerzo LotCN, crimson-dust-blade, Airhead259, cutekitty5597, Prussianess, GRX3m0m, SapphireOfTheCrescentMoon, Tensei Kano

**Thanks for reading, everyone :)**

* * *

**Sanctuary Thirteen– Unstable**

Master Yoshiya's friends are a very…interesting bunch so to speak.

"_How did it happen?"_

It's good to see him have company, for once.

"_It doesn't matter…"_

It's good to let him have other things on his mind.

"_What was my dad like?"_

He's a very complicated person, after all.


	13. Unstable

**Sanctuary**

_I sweep the dusty layer away._

_Enuffa lying under the cupboards._

_Pictures are meant to be seen._

_Stories are meant to be told._

_Music is meant to be heard._

* * *

"We've just arrived at the Shibuya General Hospital."

_The hospital?_"_What?"_

"It's Rhyme. She's almost drowned and she's unconscious and – no, Beat, _that way_ – I can't talk now. Just get over here."

Joshua hung up and Neku swore.

Just when he thought his weekend was going to be peaceful, life decided to kick him in the face and go on a riot. He didn't need to say anything to Shiki, as he started running.

_Hang in there Rhyme._

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen - Unstable**

As soon as the bus doors opened, Neku sprinted towards the automated sliding glass doors of the Shibuya General Hospital. Hurrying to the reception, he demanded to know where Raimu Bito was staying. After being directed by a startled receptionist, he took the elevator up to the third floor and burst into Rhyme's room.

"Oh, Rhyme," Shiki exclaimed into his ear as she came into sight.

The room was a standard one, just like the one he stayed in when he passed out and on the bed laid Rhyme. Her chest rose and fell evenly, mirroring the steady beeps of the heart monitor. Beat was sitting on a stool next to the bed and was clinging onto her hand. His beanie was thrown carelessly onto the floor. Neku bent to pick it up, and placed a hand on Beat's shoulder as he put it on the bedside. "How did it happen?"

"S-she wanted to do some extra swimmin' and the janitor let us in and it was goin' fine. Then suddenly she was splashin' and shoutin' and then she went underwater an' didn't come up right away." His voice cracked at the end. He suspected that maybe Beat had cried. "An' I just froze up, man. I – I didn't go after her and she was _drownin' _and –"

"Stop your sobbing, it's unbecoming of you." Joshua was sitting on the chair in the corner, just behind Neku. He must have walked right passed him… "You said you can't swim, right? What good would it have done if jumped into the pool? Nothing. I couldn't have dragged both you _and_ Rhyme out at the same time. One of you would have really drowned."

"_You _pulled her out? What were you doing there too?"

"Apparently I asked to be driven to school." _Apparently? "_Not that I remember."

Neku understood what he was getting at. "The Other Joshua?"

"Yes. I came back into consciousness just at the entrance to the pool," he recounted. "Rhyme's Soul had gone berserk again. Once it gets like that, it can really affect your physical body too, and that's exactly what was happening to Rhyme. Naturally, I dove in to save her but when I pulled her out she wasn't breathing. She should have been fine after I did CPR on her but her Soul was still extremely unstable. We took her to the hospital in my car; it was the quickest way.

"Souls tend to stabilise if they're in the presence of a huge number of others, which is why she's fine now…but…" He let out a frustrated sigh. "She's an idiot and brought this upon herself."

"Whatchu you say?" Beat thundered, getting up so quickly that his stool clattered to the ground. "_What _did say 'bout Rhyme?"

"You heard me," said Joshua, standing up as well.

"Come over here so I can hit you." Rhyme's brother started forward but Neku pushed a hand against him, trying to hold him back.

"Alright then." He did exactly as Beat asked and walked straight up to him. "But it doesn't make what I said untrue. Rhyme shouldn't have tried to train by herself."

"She wasn't by herself - she had me!"

"Yes but it doesn't mean anything if you can't even _see_ the reason she needs to train. It makes your presence obsolete."

This time, Beat shoved Neku's hand away and grabbed Joshua by the collar. "Say that again."

"Please refrain from fighting – _this is a hospital._" It was the doctor, who walked in with a tight-lipped expression. Neku recognised him as the same doctor who had been with him when he woke up the other day…

"Dad!"

"Doctor Bito!"

Beat and Joshua had both spoken simultaneously and then there was a pause.

"You _know_ my dad?"

"That's _your_ father?"

Neku would have jumped in with a something of his own but it was confusing enough as it was.

"Daisukenojo, I didn't expect you to be acquainted with Yoshiya," he said.

"_Dad_ I told ya, it's _Beat,_"he said through gritted teeth, though he did release Joshua from his grip. "And how'd you know him anyway?"

"Aside from working here I've also served as the family doctor for the Kiryu household for a while. I make house calls whenever Yoshiya here collapses. You would know that if you actually listened to anything I've been saying, Daisukenojo."

"If you ain't callin' me Beat at home, fine – just don't call me that in front of my friends," Beat muttered.

Dr. Bito brushed past Beat to stand over Rhyme and was checking over her and ticking things off his clipboard. His expression didn't betray any emotion of concern. Neku supposed, though, that doctors needed to be able to do that, even if it was a member of their own family.

Beat nudged Joshua with a glare. "You didn't tell me you knew Dad."

"Bito is such a common family name. Why should I be expected to know that he was your father? Besides he's nothing like you."

"At least you've got one thing right," agreed Beat lowly.

"His dad does give off a more serious kind of aura around him, don't you think?" said Shiki.

"Yeah," he whispered back.

The doctor suddenly straightened up and pierced Beat with a cold look. "What kind of dangerous situation did you put her into _this _time?"

"I didn't mean to – she was just swimming and then she – "

"Never mind. I probably don't want to hear it. This is exactly why I said clubs were a waste of time. You two should be using that time to study instead."

_Hey, at least hear Beat out. _Feeling more than a little ticked off, Neku opened his mouth to defend Beat when –

"Dr. Bito it wasn't Beat's fault." _Joshua? _"Just because Rhyme was in danger doesn't mean it was because of Beat. Maybe you should ask _her_ what happened when she wakes up. Pointing fingers at people without hearing the full story isn't the way to go."

_Well, okay then. _Joshua must be the most indecisive one out of them all. Whose side was he on? Maybe he just said whatever he wanted to. Yeah, that was it.

In any case, Dr. Bito did not so much as blink. He simply retrieved his phone from his pocket and started calling someone. "Hello….yes it's me, please stop moaning. As a matter of fact I _have _seen him…yes, at the hospital…you're here? That makes things simpler…yes, yes, room twenty two, third floor…stop making such a racket there are patients here trying to get some rest…I hope you're not running….you're running aren't you?"

The next moment the door swung open. "There you are, Yoshiya."

Joshua froze. "Father…hello."

What was this? 'Introduce your Dad day?' The two fathers seemed to be in stark contrast, though. Dr. Bito's serious features were the opposite of Mr. Kiryu, who was looking around the room in a carefree manner. He had his long ash-blond hair tied in a low pony-tail and was wearing some kind of extravagant looking suit.

"Yoshiya! You weren't home when I arrived and I couldn't get hold of Mr. Kitaniji. I was worried you might've run away. Or have been kidnapped. Or been abducted by aliens." _Is he for real?_

"Father, I highly doubt any of that would have happened – "

"You're absolutely right. That would have been terrible. Think of what it could have done to your hair."

"My hair is of no importance – "

"Yoshiya, how could you say that!" Mr. Kiryu gasped as if hurt. "Appearance is everything. Our names are Kiryu. Have you forgotten our motto? Success is everything, anything else is – " He looked at Joshua, smiling expectantly, crossing his arms.

"- a waste of time," Joshua finished with his own smile. At first glance it didn't _look _forced, but there was a slight twitch of annoyance that Neku could sense from Joshua.

"Very well done," said Mr. Kiryu, nodding approvingly. He then turned to Dr. Bito and Rhyme. "Oh dear, that's your daughter isn't it? She looks exactly the same as in the photos. Is she alright? Is she dying? Do you need to fly her out overseas? I can arrange that if that's –"

"Raimu will be fine. She's just very fatigued. Yuu, you're giving everyone here a headache. Including me," said Dr. Bito.

"Nonsense. I am Yuu Kiryu. My presence should be enough to cure all patients here of their illness." And he looked like he meant what he said too. _Now we know where Joshua got his ego from. _"Oh and Kenji, is this your son?" He was referring to Beat and Dr. Bito nodded in response. "I see! Then who's this other one?" This time he was pointing towards Neku.

Neku shifted uncomfortably at the sudden attention on him. "I'm…their friend. Neku Sakuraba."

And then Kiryu was right up in his face. "My, my, Sakuraba? Yes, I thought you looked familiar."

"Do you know him?" asked Dr. Bito, now also looking at Neku curiously. "I treated him once and also felt a sense of knowing him but I couldn't put my finger to who he reminded me of…"

"You can't be serious. _Sakuraba_. You know – Kyohei Sakuraba. He was only our best friend for since, what, middle school?" Mr. Kiryu smirked in a way very like Joshua usually did as realisation dawned on Dr. Bito's face. "Please. For someone so sharp you can be extremely slow sometimes. One day that could really hurt you. You could get run over. Or robbed. Or abducted by aliens."

"Father, no one's going to be abducted by aliens."

_Forget the aliens, these two knew my dad!_ It really was a 'Dad's day' of sorts. And now Neku's head was just spinning because everything was a bit too much to take in.

"I get your point. Unfortunately, you're being too noisy. I need to do some extra checks on Raimu and I'll need you all to leave for this." He shot Beat a levelled look. "That means you too, Daisukenojo."

"Ooh. Scary, how scary!" Mr. Kiryu giggled. Nevertheless, they all were ushered out by Dr. Bito.

Once they were in the hallway, Mr. Kiryu started talking to Joshua. "Now that I've seen that you're fine, Father needs to run! I've got a meeting. It's only the first day I'm back but every second counts."

He turned as if to leave but Joshua caught him by the elbow. "Father, about the thing we discussed…yesterday?"

And then the whole atmosphere just _shifted_. He looked down at Joshua and offered him a regretful sort of smile. "Yoshiya, I know that you like to enjoy your hobbies. However they aren't going to make you successful in life. And even if I did want to go to the recital, I've got a meeting at that time next week. You understand, don't you?"

"…Yes, Father." Joshua let go of his father's sleeve and watched him as he left.

Wondering if he should relieve the tension, Neku whistled. "Your dads are certainly…er…"

Shiki came to his rescue. "Interesting."

"Interesting," Neku echoed.

"Interesting? Why, of course! We are Kiryu after all. Only the best," said Joshua instantly, twirling his hair with a smirk. Okay now _that _did look a little forced.

"You can say interestin' but Dad's a prick sometimes," was what Beat said, no remorse on his face for just insulting his dad.

"Dr. Bito's nice enough in my opinion. Father is better, of course." He really struggled to get that one out.

"Nice ain't the word. I feel like punchin' him sometimes. You know what I mean?"

"Punching your father? How barbaric. I would never even _think _of doing such a thing."

Beat and Neku exchanged a look. Neku spoke up, "You don't always listen to him, though, do you?"

"Perhaps not, but – "

"But I thought big man Kiryu was always 'right', yo."

"…" Joshua seemed to be at his line now.

"Hey Josh, why don't you tell us how you really feel about your dad?"

"…"

"It ain't gonna hurt anyone," prompted Beat.

Joshua opened his mouth, and then closed it again. A pause. "…You won't speak of this to anyone. Promise me that."

"Alright, man, we promise. Just let it out already."

And let it out, he did. "_Father is an absolute pain to be around. He's an embarrassment to me. I am not even kidding with you, you _heard _him today. Why was he talking about alien abductions? Is he insane? Aliens don't exist! Even if they did why would they want to kidnap anyone here? _Why? _And he's always telling me to stop wasting my time. Oh_ please. _Half the things that come out of his mouth are just a waste of time. He talks so much that I can hardly get a word in when he's around. And how often is that, anyway? Almost never. He's never around. It's always a meeting here, a meeting there. Come _on_. I ask him to come to one recital. One. It wouldn't kill him to listen to me for just a second…"_

He stopped at the sound of chuckling from Neku. It's then that Joshua seemed to realise that nurses passing in the hallways were giving him glares, because his voice had been so raised. He cleared his throat. "Ahem. That's...that's all, really. I mean, other than that I do think that he is a good person. He does care for me - s_top laughing._"

Neku tried to but he failed miserably. "You didn't say we couldn't. C'mon, you can't expect us not to. The great Yoshiya Kiryu spilling his feelings in a rage is pretty amusing."

"Yeah, Phones's got it! But yo, you hear me complainin' 'bout my dad all the time. If you ever need to talk 'bout your dad you can always talk to me 'bout that."

Joshua shook his head with his trademark giggle. "I should've known you'd say that. Fine, I'll do that. If only to stop myself from repeating that embarrassing display."

"Heh. Good. Thanks for standin' up to my dad for me earlier on, by the way."

"Don't worry about it."

Neku smiled, glad the two were back to being cool with each other.

"But if you diss Rhyme again I really will kill you."

"…I'll keep that in mind."

Or at least as cool as they could be, being Beat and Joshua.

The door of Rhyme's room opened and Dr. Bito stepped out. Crap. Neku hoped he hadn't heard anything. He didn't seem angry, so he guessed maybe he didn't.

"Raimu has to stay here overnight. You can stay with her now if you want to," Dr. Bito announced evenly. He turned to Joshua. "I suspect your father was already here because he was visiting your mother. She should still be awake if you go to see her now."

Joshua's eyes widened. "Right, I'll go there right away." He took off down the corridor, without another word.

Beat and Neku were left in the hallway. "Should I follow him…?" Neku asked.

"You go. Imma stay here with Rhyme. You can fill me in later," said Beat.

Neku nodded and went off to catch up with Joshua. The other boy had taken a left and was standing in front of the corridor, hand stuck in mid-action of a knock.

"…Do you mind?" Neku asked, walking up to Joshua.

"No…it's fine. And Shiki's welcome too."

"Oh! He could tell," she said. "And here I thought I was being quiet enough."

"You're quiet enough, don't worry. You aren't on loudspeaker," Neku assured her.

"And it's just me being perceptive," Joshua added, before opening the door.

Joshua's mum was a pale looking woman. She had light-brown hair, and it was apparent where Joshua got his facial features from. She was sitting up and looking out the window, but turned to look at the door when she heard it open.

When she recognised that Joshua had entered, her face lit up and she did not look as sickly as she did a moment ago. "Joshua, dear."

"Hello Mother." The first genuine smile Neku had ever seen on Joshua arrived at this very moment.

Joshua went forward to hug his mum and when she released him she giggled. "Dear, have you grown taller, Joshua?"

"Of course not, Mother. It's only been two weeks since I last saw you," said Joshua lightly.

"It must have been my imagination then. Silly me!" She peered around him at Neku. "Is this your friend, dear?"

"Yes," said Joshua. "His name is Neku Sakuraba. We go to school together now."

"How lovely! I'm glad you're spending more time with people your age. Learning is more fun with others around. It's wonderful that you're friends with Kyohei and Ayane's son. We always hoped our children would get along." _And this is another bad time to ask about my parents. I don't want to kill the nice atmosphere here. _"It's a pleasure to meet you, Neku."

"The pleasure is mine," he said almost automatically, a smile not missing on his face. Mrs. Kiryu seemed to radiate some kind of positive energy.

"Tell me Joshua, have you been practicing your piano? I do love your playing. It's too bad we can't bring a piano in here."

"I have, Mother. In fact, I have a recital next week."

"Oh! That's exciting! Is your father going to be going?"

"Yes, he is." Joshua lied, though his smile remained on his face. This was one lie Neku thought from Joshua to be one that wasn't ill intentioned.

The rest of the conversation was very normal. They talked about how school was going for Joshua and Neku couldn't even bring himself to make any comments about Joshua's attitude in front of Mrs. Kiryu.

As Shiki said when they left the room, with Mrs. Kiryu telling them both to visit again soon, "She's just so…nice. Why…"

"Why does she have to stay here?" asked Neku cautiously, hoping the questions wasn't too sensitive. "Has she been here long?"

"She's been in the hospital for over three years," said Joshua, his smile fading. "She's been getting so frail that she needed to be hospitalized. The doctors aren't a hundred percent sure what's wrong with her, but her health is at its best when she's in the hospital, so they keep her here."

_Oh…_

"_I _know what's wrong with her, though. Her Soul's unstable."

"What?" Shiki gasped.

"_Hers?_"Neku hadn't been expecting _that. _"I couldn't tell at all."

"I told you earlier, didn't I? Souls stabilise in the presence of other souls. When she's not around a lot of people, her Soul is unstable to the point that it affects her physical body almost permanently. I don't quite know how _her _Soul got to that point, but I do know that if you play around with your Soul the wrong way you could end up like her…"

"Neku! That must be why Joshua doesn't want Rhyme to train alone. He doesn't want her to end up in the hospital," Shiki said as it occurred to her.

It would make sense as to why Joshua had been so insistent on training her. No wonder he blew up at Beat earlier on. He didn't want to see another person go through the same thing his mother was having to go through.

Joshua sighed. "I don't want to worry her while she's in the hospital. Neither does Father. That's why he works so hard. He wants to make sure that we'll always have enough money to be able to take care of Mother. I'm sure he eventually wants to know what's going on with her, but I don't think I can tell him."

And it must be why he lies to her. To keep her with a peace of mind. "So, it's your Father who started calling you Yoshiya?"

"Maybe saying 'stopped calling me Joshua' would be more appropriate," he said. "Yoshiya's official – Yoshiya Kiryu. And Kiryu is the way to success." Success in order to heal. Joshua cleared his throat again. "There's a flower shop downstairs, I forgot to get some for her this time. Perhaps you'd like to accompany me in getting them next time I visit?"

"Sure," said Neku, smiling.

"Beat and Rhyme should come too."

"Me too!" piped up Shiki, though only Neku could hear her.

"You come with me everywhere anyway, Stalker."

"Oh shush!"

Neku held back a grin. "Let's get back to Rhyme's room, maybe she's awake too."

xxxxx

"…_So my words can start to glow__, __And you might not have to plow…"_

"Oh, er, I'm just going to step out for a bit to get that," said Neku with a nervous smile.

"No probs, kiddo," said Hanekoma casually, as Neku stepped out of his office.

"Shiki! What's the deal?" he said, miffed that her call had interrupted his conversation with his uncle.

They had returned from having dinner again and were having a pleasant talk about the songs that were in the charts at the moment. While Neku argued that 'Naked Summer' didn't really cut it for the top, Hanekoma thought it deserved the spot. They did both agree, though, that the music video was strange – just nude people swimming in the sea. Good thing it wasn't a CAT production.

"As much as talking about naked guys is fun," said Shiki. _Hey, that's twisting it – wait, did she say it was 'fun'? "_Wouldn't this be a perfect time to ask Hanekoma about your parents?"

…how did she know that it had been bothering him? Alright, of course she could tell that he was bothered, but he figured that she would pass all of it off as being worried for Rhyme. Unless… "Hey, are you able to read my thoughts and not just my emotions now?"

"I _wish_," she replied. "If I could do that I'd stay clear of your sight when you're thinking of trying to give Nimew a bath. It's a bit scary to see Nimew attack you like that."

"Huh, so you _do_ realise that it's a monster."

"No, it just doesn't like you," she pointed out. "Anyway, how about it? It sounds to me like you don't know a ton about your parents."

"Well, I do have some photos of them in the albums…"

"But you don't know what they were _like_, do you? After our early run in with both Dr. Bito, Mr. Kiryu and Mrs. Kiryu, surely you're just a _bit _curious as to how they all know each other."

"Maybe…" Neku shoved his hands in his pockets. "I've asked some of my relatives and they all said that they were nice people. No specifics though…"

"Then go on! You should ask! I'll help you along with it," she encouraged.

He was sure that if Shiki could, she would pull Neku by the arm herself and make block the exit until Neku talked to Hanekoma about his parents. The thought of that brought a smile to his lips. "Heh, alright, alright."

"Heh? What was that for?"

"Nothing," he said innocently.

"_Nekuu!"_

Going back into the office, Neku sat back down in the chair. Taking a deep breath, he started to speak again, "Uncle H? I was wondering if you could…well…"

"Go for it!" Shiki whispered.

"…if you could tell me about my parents," he managed to get out. "As in, you know. What they were like…and who they were friends with and…well, yeah."

Hanekoma did not seem to be surprised at all. In fact, his eyes glinted between his glasses. "About time, you asked that!" He opened his bottom drawer and pulled out one large looking file. "I had this prepared for ya, just in case."

_What the -? _The file was titled 'Kyohei and Akane Sakuraba – Exposed!' in giant printed letters. He flipped open the first page and there were his parents, his dad on his left and his mum on his right. Only they were in a picture with _their _parents; Neku recognised his grandparents.

"You don't mean…" Shiki said.

"…we're starting from the very start," he ended for her.

"So! Your parents were both born and raised in Tokyo. Ikkebukuro was the place where your mum grew up but your dad always lived, at the most, an hour away from Shibuya. Your mum has a sister, whom you've stayed with once, and your dad was a lone child, but he did have lots of cousins. Such as me." Hanekoma did go on for a bit about a lot of their childhood and although it was very long-winded with what he thought must be unnecessary details, he found himself interested all the same. "And in high school he was the head of the student council! Alongside him were Kenji Bito, Rika Tatsunoko, Yuu Kiryu, and Koji Iwase."

"Oh, Dr. Bito and Mr. Kiryu were in the student council with your dad!"

"I was still in middle school at the time, but your dad sometimes dropped by there to sneak me some good snacks. Haha, good times, good times," said Hanekoma with some nostalgia. "He met your mum in university.

"Your dad was a businessman, and he was very charismatic. Always a friendly thing to say; he had many friends, but it was good for business too. You look like your dad, and sound like him, but your personality is more like your mother's. She didn't always have a lot to say, but she was a good person." He rambled on and on, but Neku found that he was taking it all in, trying to commit everything to memory.

Okay, maybe he had been _a lot_ curious as to what his parents were like. When Hanekoma was finally done, Neku felt as if he had no more questions to ask

"See, wasn't this nice, Neku?"

"Yeah…" he admitted, softly. "It was."

"Now that I think about it. Maybe you would've liked going to the same high school as your dad went to. Shibuya Highschool," Hanekoma mused. "I looked around a few places, but judging from what I heard from your previous guardians I went with Ebisu."

"It's cool," said Neku. "I wouldn't have wanted to go to Shibu High, anyway."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"…No reason in particular," he said with a shrug. "I'm glad you put me into Ebisu High."

"Got yourself some good pals there, huh?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "I do. We get into some rough spots now and then, but I think we get along fine now."

"That's what's most important, having good friends!"

They chatted for a little while more, before Neku bid Hanekoma goodbye and left the building.

"Even though I don't go to Ebisu, I count as your good pal too, right?" Shiki asked on the way back.

"Hm, let me think about it…" He put on a thoughtful look on his face, sure that Shiki could sense it. The 'hmph' confirmed it and he let it drop, a smile sliding onto his face again. "C'mon, of course you count."

"I was just checking," she said, through what sounded like a pout.

"You always worry too much."

"You give me a lot to worry _about_, Neku."

"Then stop worrying about me."

"I can't do that, silly."

"And why not?"

"Because!"

"Because what?"

"Just…just…_because_." With another loud '_hmph',_ Neku could tell she was _really _pouting now.

He must look weird, laughing to himself right now, but it wasn't like there was anyone else around to see. _She really let's herself get wound up too easily. Not that I'm complaining. Whenever she makes that 'hmph' sound, it's actually kind of cu-_

Neku stopped still once he opened his door and turned on the lights.

"_You damned cat! Not the curtains _again. _I have to _pay _to get them repaired. Do you know how expensive it is? I'm only a highschool student, I don't have that much money!"_

"Stop shouting at Nimew!"

Of course, she was ignored.

"_C'mere, for that, I'm going to shave off all your fur. Oh, you think I'm joking? I'm _not. _Get back here!"_

Thus it was a hectic end to a hectic day.

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! Phew, I hope this chapter didn't give you brain damage with all the revelations. In my head it seemed okay, but maybe it's because I planned all these connections beforehand. Welp. So yay, Rhyme's gonna be fine :D Hmm, I'm replaying TWEWY and I just got to Week 2. Gosh. You forget how much of an ass Joshua is sometimes…I write him as less of a jerk in this fic since he doesn't have that whole 'lonely Composer' background. Just a flamboyant pain in the ass dad and sick mum, no biggie, right? –gets stuff thrown at me-. I did have fun writing his dad, though. The arrogance has to come from **_**somewhere**_**.**

* * *

**Thanks to those who put this on favourite/followed:** CirciFox81314, fangstormking, Brookpelt, Paper Crease, KokoLockhart, KarakuRoku

**And to my reviewers:** Xerzo LotCN, B.A.G-GOMEZ, Omega Zekrom, CirciFox81314, Faliara, Alyss Penedo, Prussianess, MySweetYaoi49, KarakuRoku

* * *

**Content Notes:**

**Naked Summer – For kicks, I typed in the 'charts' for Japan at the moment, and it seems the song that's number one (according to the site I visited) is 'Summer Nude 13' by Tomohisa Yamashita'.I youtubed it and it sounds good but the music video is weird. Check it out yourselves if you have the time x3**

**Thanks again for reading! :'D**

- 11 August 2013

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen - Family**

Yoshiya, Yoshiya, I hope you understand.

"_He's doing his best. For you."_

Father's a very busy man, and we need to take care of your mother.

"_C'mon brat, show me what you got!"_

If we don't, her condition could get worse. Or she might run away from the hospital.

"_I'll do it!"_

Or she could get abducted by aliens!


	14. Family

**Sanctuary**

_Siblings, huh?_

_Yes, I've thought about them._

_If I had them, maybe it would have been less lonely._

_But it's okay..._

_I have you guys._

_I know that now._

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen - Family**

The first day of the school week went by in a flash. After first hearing about Okami, Neku found himself hearing the name in conversations everywhere. It was one of those things that one never noticed until they were aware of it. It reminded him that he should take care to pay attention to his surroundings more.

Okami himself obviously took note of Neku's sudden attention to his name and did not stop going, "Of course they talk about Okami. I am a genius after all."

Beat was slightly grouchy today, although this didn't, for once, have to do with Joshua. He was ticked off that his parents hadn't let Rhyme go to school even though she said she felt fine. "They even wanna make her quit swimmin'. Can you believe that?"

It was true though, that Rhyme should probably stay home, just in case. Joshua told them that although she should be fine, he couldn't guarantee it. He even hinted he wouldn't be surprised if she collapsed again, to which Beat punched him in the arm for. To be fair to Joshua, Neku visited Rhyme yesterday after she was released, while Joshua excused himself, by saying that he needed practice for his recital, so Joshua didn't see for himself that Rhyme was looking cheerful already.

On the way back home, Neku almost didn't realise that Shooter had joined them.

"What's up?" Neku asked.

He presumed Shooter wanted to speak to him but he appeared to be wrong as the younger student turned to Beat instead, "Hey, bro! I heard Rhyme was sick today. Totally not cool!" He took out a bundle of sheets from his bag. "I was just sitting in class and I thought, 'hey, I should give her notes to Beat'. 'Cause she'd be bummed if she got left behind in class. So here you go! Tell her I hope she feels better soon! I gotta run now! Catch ya later, bros!"

He shot off, sprinting past them.

Joshua let out a drawn out 'hmm'. "Do you guys think he ever slows down?"

"Probably not," said Neku, dryly.

At this Joshua giggled, "I surmised as much." _Then why ask?_ "Oh, I've just remembered." He rummaged around his briefcase before pulling out three tickets. He handed one to Neku and two to Beat. "You're invited to the recital I have on. You should all come if you can. My driver can pick you up if you need transportation."

"Thanks, Joshua."

"Count yourself lucky, not just anyone can get these tickets,"said Joshua. "Remember to dress up properly. The dress code is formal and I don't want you looking like the slops you usually are."

"_Thanks_, Joshua."

"Just remember to behave yourselves too. If you're going to embarrass me I'd rather you'd not come."

He said this evenly, in his usual tone, but Neku caught a quick flash of vacancy in Joshua's eyes. He had the feeling that Joshua meant the exact opposite of what he had said, and that he wasn't just talking about his friends.

_You actually want your father to go, don't you?_

xxxxx

The orange-haired teen studied the recital ticket as he walked alone to 104, intending to visit Hanekoma again.

When he entered the office, he was met by another face he wasn't expecting to see - Joshua's dad.

The man, recognising Neku, smiled widely. "If it isn't Neku! Oh, if you're here to see Sanae, don't mind me, we were just finishing up." He turned back to Hanekoma. "Don't forget, I want the announcement out of the lead singer himself! 'Sponsored by Kiryu!' Loud and clear!"

"Haha, I've got it Mr. Kiryu, don't worry about it," said Hanekoma with a jovial smile. He gestured towards Neku. "And I forgot to mention, did I? About me being Neku's new guardian?"

"My, my Sanae, that's not nice! He's the son of my very precious friend, you know." Mr. Kiryu turned to Neku. "I'm really jealous that Sanae somehow managed to get you! When your father first died I wanted to take you in, you know. Relatives take priority to custody, though, and your grandparents wanted to take care of you.

"Such a shame! Joshua could have had a brother."

Neku had several thoughts on what Mr. Kiryu just said. He was somewhat touched that Mr. Kiryu would have adopted him, but he was also relieved that he hadn't. Joshua as a brother?_ I would've totally been ordered around._

"I've got to run, now. Looking forward to dealing with you again, Sanae!"

Although...having siblings..._maybe things would have turned out differently for me._ It wasn't as if he never thought of it before. He bet Joshua must have thought about it at least once. He and Joshua were similar in that way.

...

"Uncle H, I'll be right back."

He ran to catch up with Mr. Kiryu. He saw the elevator doors starting to close and made a sprint to make it just in time before the doors closed.

"Neku?" Mr. Kiryu looked at Neku in surprise. "Did I leave something behind? "

"No. I wanted to ask you why you're not going to Joshua's recital." He said, getting straight to the point. "You said to him yesterday that you had a meeting, but like you also said, you are a Kiryu. I don't believe someone like you couldn't rearrange a meeting with a client, so what's the real reason?"

Mr. Kiryu regarded him for a moment, seeming to really take into consideration what he was saying. The silence would have been very awkward for Neku, but it wasn't exactly completely silent. There was always that elevator music playing in the background (as expected from a building that worked with CAT). Neku was also grateful that no other person stepped into the elevator from the other floors they passed; a stranger would have broken the mood as well.

It was only when the reached the ground floor and both stepped out that Mr. Kiryu spoke again. "You're a lot like your Dad. Not just in your looks. He could never ignore it if something was wrong with his friends. He was gutsy, that Kyohei. He wouldn't have hesitated in just confronting an adult either." He sighed and twirled a strand of his hair, looking just like Joshua as he did. "I hate to admit it, but unlike him, I'm a coward."

"Akane called me after you and Yoshiya visited her. She was worried about him."

Worried? But Joshua acted as if he was the happiest kid in the world in front of her...

"Don't look so surprised. A mother can tell when her child is acting...and to tell the truth, so can a father. He's been a bit lonely for some time, hasn't he? Until he started school, that is. But in an attempt to distract both him and myself from the fact, he took his hobby of playing the piano very seriously.

"It's a bittersweet thing. He and my wife used to perform for me while she was well. He accompanied her while she played the violin." _The violin? _"After she fell ill, she stopped playing. She was too weak for it. Yoshiya kept performing, yet I didn't want to hear it anymore. Yoshiya's performance is not the same on its own. To me, it always sounds like there's a piece missing..." He sighed once more before turning to Neku. "So there you have it."

"...Joshua was right," said Neku quietly. "You _are _a fool."

"Excuse me?"

"Look at that long-ass speech you just gave me. Why don't you just tell that to Joshua himself? Is it _that _hard?" Several people walking past stared at Neku scolding the older man, but he went on. "And you should get your hearing checked. It's clear to anyone who actually understands music that he's playing his own kind of tune. It's not an accompaniment piece anymore. It's _his _composition. He just wants to show you that. He's doing his best. For _you_. That's. All. So are you going to go to his concert, or not?"

Mr. Kiryu stared and then shook his head, the smallest of smiles. "Definitely gutsy. Joshua's lucky to have a friend like you." Then he ruffled Neku's hair. "I'm sure you'd try to save him if he was about to be abducted by aliens." _That again? "_I've really got to go now, goodbye!"

He rushed away, without giving Neku a satisfactory response.

_'Joshua's lucky to have a friend like you.' _Well. Lucky was one way to call it.

_Once upon a time, being 'gutsy' brought nothing but trouble for me._

xxxxx

"You sure you don't need to be fetched?" Joshua inquired in a call three hours before the concert.

"For the last time, _I'm sure. _I've got something I want to do first, so send the car ahead to Beat's place and I'll see you guys there," replied Neku, feeling exasperated already.

"Suit yourself - and I do also mean 'don't forget to wear your suit'."

"For the hundredth time, I _won't_ forget." Neku hung up on Joshua before he tried to remind him _again. _Geez, he was starting to have second thoughts about having talked to Mr. Kiryu. They were both pains.

_"Run run far away, run run to a better place. Somewhere we can let truth fall away..."_

"Hey, Neku. I don't mean to bug you, since Joshua has already asked you, but why are you going to Miyashita Park right now?" she asked, rather timidly. "You didn't answer Joshua but, well, you know..."

"Don't worry, since it's you asking I'll answer."

"Yeah, I understand - wait - you will?"

"It's got to do with you after all." He stopped by the entrance of Miyashita Park. It was that time of day where the sun just met the horizon, and the sky started to change from blue to orange.

"Oh, this is..."

It was the place where Neku had his last pain attack. The place where Shiki regained some memory of her death. "But why are we here?" she asked him.

"Sensing emotions isn't a one way thing anymore, remember? I can feel that you've been bothered lately too. You just got around to talking about my problem earlier than I did."

"Sorry."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't apologize for no reason."

"Sor - okay, okay."

"So, what's been your problem?"

"I was wondering if my parents died in the crash too." _  
_

Any response he had prepared died in Neku's throat.

"If I was in a crash, I can't have been the one driving, so besides me, Mum or Dad, or even both of them must have been in the car."

Finding his voice again, Neku said, "The...the day before you first called there was a crash. It was on the news and...well only one person died." Immediately he wanted to take that sentence back. _Only _one person died. _Only? That's the most insensitive..._

_"_That must be the crash I died in! That must be it! And I was the only one who died. Right?"

He looked down the road, shifting on his feet. "The family didn't want their names in the news but it could have been you."

"It is. It _must_ be."

Neku wasn't a hundred percent sure. Crashes happened all the time. This road couldn't be a stranger to it either. They still didn't know how long she'd been dead for. She could have died in a crash that happened here a long time ago.

"It was just me..."

"Yeah, just you." No, Shiki _wanted _to believe that the crash he was talking about was the one she died in. That way, surely her parents were alive. He didn't know if she was _wrong_, so...why not just let her believe it...

"I hope I'll remember my parents one day. Their names and faces. Then...then...would you...could we..."

"Of course we could go see them," he said, finishing. He could practically hear her smile over the phone.

"Thanks Neku...thank you."

_"'Thank you' _she says."

Neku spun around sharply and the sound of the voice coming from behind him. _  
_

"You again!" It was those two Spirits that had attacked him.

Tenho and BJ, as he recalled. They were both standing past the entrance, just in the middle of the path, as if inviting him to come. Neku thought about running, but as soon as he did he felt himself get pushed to the ground from behind. _Another one?!_

He was wearing a black hoodie, the same one that BJ except the hood was down and Neku could actually see his face. He had blond spiky hair that resembled a porcupine and was grinning down at Neku. "Gotcha!"

Neku quickly recovered, getting on his feet and creating some distance between him and the man. He couldn't escape; with two Spirits on one side, this new Spirit on the other and the sides to his right and left full of dense trees that he couldn't possibly get through quickly - he was stuck.

"Nowhere to run now," said the new one.

"Exactly as planned," said Tenho gleefully. "Nice job 777."

"Just doing what I gotta do. We all wanna stay here as Spirits, right?"

"Hey!" Neku shouted. _If I can just distract them for long enough..._"Why do you want to break my pact with Shiki, anyway?"

"Don't tell me you don't know how this works," said 777.

"Of course we don't. I can't remember anything," she shouted.

"Huh. Well, since I'm a nice guy, I'll fill you in," he said. "Spirits rely on the one they make their Pact with. Their Partner. They draw in energy from them. Your Pact is weird - you need that phone to actually do anything with it. Usually Spirits just attach themselves to a live persons' Soul." He pointed at Neku. "We three have Boss as our Partner. The more Partners the Boss has, the stronger the connection for all of us is. If we sever the Pact with you and Shiki, we can take her Soul and form a new Pact with Boss. A guaranteed longer afterlife for all of us."

"Hey!" BJ yelled her from the other side. "Why'd you tell them all that!"

"Duh, why wouldn't I? That's what you dolts should have done in the first place," he retorted. "Was there anything wrong with what I said? I don't think so. If anything, Shiki must be stoked to have her Pact severed with that kid. Right, Shiki?"

"W-what?"

"You don't get it? Pacts don't last forever. Eventually your Soul tires and the Pact expires. Who knows where your Soul goes after that? You don't know when it'll happen and your Soul could just be instantly lost. But as a Spirit, if you form a Pact with Boss _now _you're definitely going to be around longer." 777 gestured at himself. "We Spirits have to stick together, you know? I know these two have been going the wrong way about it, but the past is the past."

Wait a minute...then...then...these other Spirits. They were trying to _help _Shiki? From what 777 had said, it certainly sounded like it.

"How do we know you're not lying?" asked Neku.

"Well, why else would we want to sever a Pact? It's not like doing it benefits us if we don't have her form another one with the Boss."

It made sense. It did. But Neku still felt like something was wrong with it. But, if what they were saying was true then...he didn't want Shiki to completely disappear. If she had to form a Pact with another person to extend her existence, then she should -

"No damn way!" Shiki huffed angrily, startling Neku out of his thoughts. _Shiki? "_You want me to go along with some random 'Boss' that I know nothing about and just leave Neku? You're crazy. I'm not leaving Neku unless he wants me to. "

"Oh c'mon. Neku, after hearing that, don't you think Shiki would be better off coming with us?"

"I - if you think about prolonging your existence..."

"Neku, do you _want_ me to leave with them?"

_Do I want you to leave? _The answer to that was easy.

"Hell no. These creeps tried to knock me out. As if I want you to go with them." Neku readied himself into a defensive stance. "Sorry, but Shiki's staying with me."

777 rubbed his temple. "I tried to do this the civil way..." He raised his voice and shouted over to his comrades. "Alright, I get it. Attacking this kid's the only way. Let's do this!"

The three of them simultaneously spread their black wings and rushed towards Neku.

Neku felt his heart rate go up, the blood pounding in his ears. _Here goes nothing... _He closed his eyes. He pictured the image of Shiki in his mind. Shiki, with her smiling face and her green eyes, holding onto a black stuffed cat. He tried to remember everything, everything that they had shared with each other. He sought out her emotions, the ones she was feeling now - awareness, anxiety, anticipation..._Shiki!_

_"_I'm here!"

His eyes flew open and there she was, right next to him, sending Mr. Mew flying towards BJ and Tenho. They were both delighted to see them knocked out in one hit, completely unprepared for this sudden retaliation. There was no time to celebrate; 777 used this distraction to get right up to Neku and lock his head in a vice grip. 777's hand began to glow blue, and in that instant Shiki sent Mr. Mew to scratch at 777's face. 777 staggered backwards, clutching his face in agony.

However, he moved his head sideways from left to right. "Is that all? C'mon brat, show me what you've got!"

"He asked for it," said Neku.

"And he'll get it."

"Go Mr. Mew!" Suddenly, Mr. Mew appeared to grow double in size. It ran over to 777, and despite him trying to fly away, it grabbed him by the wings and proceeded to spin him around and around and then flung him down to the ground, where he dropped with a loud _crash_.

"How...how was that so powerful?" 777 was panting, his black wings not visible anymore. "You only have...one Pact."

"Our Pact is stronger than anything _you _have," Shiki declared proudly, adjusting her glasses as Mr. Mew returned to normal size.

She walked Mr. Mew over to him and glared down. "Now, tell me. Who is your 'Boss'?"

"Heh. You really want to know? Even if you knew what are you going to do? The Boss is -"

He froze all of a sudden. His eyes went glassy, as if drained by something. And then there was a flash of light and he was gone.

"W-where'd he go?" Shiki exclaimed. She took a step back away from the place where 777 had just been.

"Not even Spirits know where they go after they have their Pacts severed." This time it was a woman's voice. It seemed to be originating from the trees that stood just behind 777. The trees served as cover for her, and Neku couldn't quite make out any details of her appearance. It seemed like Shiki couldn't either.

"Did _you _sever them?" Neku demanded.

"Yes, I did! 'If they are defeated, sever their Pacts immediately'. Orders straight from the Boss."

Boss? If she was using that, then didn't that mean they had the same Partner?

"Why would you need to do that? Didn't that Spirit just say that Pacts extend the afterlife of Spirits? Or was that a lie?"

"Nope, that was all true. But it's also true that weak Spirits just drag the rest of us down. Better to break off the weakest links sooner than later."

That was just plain cruel.

Despicable.

_If Shiki had gone with them..._Neku shuddered to think of what would have happened to her.

"So, are you going to attack us now?"

"Ugh, don't tempt me! I was ordered to return immediately after severing their Pacts. Boss told me not to fight with you guys. Which is stupid, because I could take you on easily." She groaned in frustration. "And I really wanted to see that angel guy those two idiots kept going on about. Bet I could beat him too. Now I'm really annoyed. I'm outta here."_  
_

She took off, flying at a speed Neku couldn't keep up with. He couldn't even get a small glimpse of any sort of details except for the distinct black wings the other Spirits had had. He asked Shiki if she had seen anything, but Shiki missed the chance too.

It was really frustrating. Just when he thought he understood one thing, someone else always traipsed along to mess things up.

"...Neku?"

"Yeah?"

"Erm, I didn't want to be the one to remind you, but uh..."

"Oh crap, Joshua's recital!"

xxxxx

He didn't know how he had managed to go home to change into his formal wear, and get onto the train to arrive at the Shibuya Classics Hall in time but Neku did it. Joshua really did give them VIP tickets. He was seated in the front row along with Beat and -

Rhyme!

"Rhyme, you made it," said Neku with a smile.

"Yep. I'm good as new! It took some time to convince Mum and Dad to let me come, since I want to go back to school tomorrow, but when Beat showed them the tickets Dad told us to go."

"It was cool of him, yo."

"Did he lend you the suit? Because that can't be yours."

"It's mine!" Beat said.

"U-huh." He had a hard time believing Beat owned a suit - he looked bizarre in it.

He scanned the music hall. It was packed full of people. True to Shibuya, there was a vast variety of people present; due to Classic Cat, more and more younger people were starting to listen to classical music. But he didn't see Joshua's father anywhere. Neku couldn't say he wasn't disappointed.

The lights went out and the general buzz died down to a hush as the announcer opened the recital. There was a range of different musical talents on display. There were as many instruments here as the three friends had found in Joshua's house. All of them seemed so talented, and the crowds were very enthusiastic.

Finally, Joshua walked onstage...with a violin in his hand and his Okami mask on.

"Wha-? I thought he was gonna the piano, yo!" Beat said.

Rhyme stared at the stage intensely. "I'm confused too."

The crowd, however, ate it up, applauding wildly when he appeared. "It's Okami! She's appearing! Finally!"

Okami bowed down and the crowd went silent again. Raising the violin gently, he started playing. It was gentle. That was the only way Neku could think of to describe the melody. He was sure that the rest of the audience felt the same thing. It was calm here. Safe. Peaceful.

"I can see it..." Rhyme whispered softly.

"His Soul."

He was sure that everyone could _feel _his Soul, even while not knowing what it was.

Blinking, Neku wasn't sure if he was seeing what he was seeing. Joshua was still onstage, still playing. But next to him was...him. The Other Joshua. He was pressing keys on the piano which weaved into Joshua's music. Nobody but Neku and Rhyme seemed to notice.

_What's going on? _Having Other Joshua out was supposed to exert a lot of energy on Joshua's body, but he was fine now. Could it be that...since Joshua's Soul was on display anyway, the Other Joshua was able to appear?

Other Joshua stopped. Then he looked straight at Neku.

_Neku wasn't in the music hall anymore. He was in a park. He didn't recognize it. Why did everything look...bigger? Did he shrink? And why was he holding hands with these two people and walking along with them. He couldn't even control what he was doing. _

_Inspecting their faces closer, he realised with jolt that he was holding hands with Joshua's parents. Except they looked younger._

_He was in a memory. In _Joshua's _memory. If Joshua was at this height and was holding his parents' hands, Neku guessed Joshua to be around seven or eight at the time._

_Joshua seemed to be smiling. But as he continued walking he turned to look behind him. There was a girl following them. She had short pink hair. and very pink lipstick._

_"Hah, wait 'till Boss hears about this. A little boy can see me. This tiny boy. What a Soul." Neku recognized that voice! It was the same voice as the Spirit who severed the Pacts!_

_"Wait. How about this for an idea? You, kid, will be our new Boss . Our old one is getting annoying. The stronger the living Partner's Soul, the better."_

_Joshua simply stared._

_"But we need to prep you for this, kid. I'm just going to give your Soul a little push, all right?"_

_Her hand glowed red and she hit young Joshua in the middle of his back. He lost his footing, and would have tripped if not for his parents. Then he started crying. His parents stopped, stunned at his sudden outburst of tears._

_"Huh. Did that not work? Can't be right..."_

_The woman looked at his mother. "Lemme see." She used both her hands this time, let a strong yell and hit Mrs. Kiryu on her back. _

_Mrs. Kiryu staggered forward and collapsed. Mr. Kiryu was in a panic, trying to shake his unconscious wife awake while young Joshua screamed louder._

_"What? That didn't work either? I understand why _that _guy fails every time, but why can't I-? Argh, I need to find a stronger Soul!"_

_"_Bravo! Okami is the best! Encore! Encore!" Neku was abruptly brought back to the present. It was only Okami onstage, bowing to his fans. He exited quickly, wanting to avoid the storm of fans.

"Rhyme, you okay?" Beat asked as she also was brought back.

"Yeah...Beat, it was really strange, we just saw..."

"Yoshiya!" Neku almost yelled out loud as he realised that Mr. Kiryu was now _right _next to him. How long had he been there?

"Y-you actually came!"

"...Yes, I guess I caught some of your bravery after our talk yesterday."

Neku almost twitched when he saw who was beside Mr. Kiryu, in a wheelchair in the aisle. It was Mrs. Kiryu. He brought Mrs. Kiryu_ out of the hospital_. "Are you allowed to do that?"

"It was her idea," said Mr. Kiryu. "And I'm a Kiryu. Of course I am."

It was a good thing this place was packed. If Neku went by Joshua's logic, since there were loads of people around, Mrs. Kiryu should be pretty stabilised at the moment. He was sure that the hospital staff were not aware of this, and were probably now on a frantic search for a missing patient. It made his heart sink because he now knew _exactly _why she was there.

She was oblivious to this fact, of course. "Joshua was wonderful up there. Simply wonderful! It's such a shame he had that mask on, though."

"Yes, yes," said Mr. Kiryu. "Why was he hiding his face? He should reveal himself immediately!"

"I think Joshua would appreciate it if you didn't say anything about him being Okami," Neku said in a low voice. _It's amazing how they could tell it was him from just that. It must be some family connection..._

"You're absolutely correct on that one, Neku." Joshua said, appearing almost out of nowhere. He didn't have his mask and he was wearing completely different clothing to what he had onstage.

Joshua looked between both his parents, staring at them for a moment.

"Did you enjoy that, Mother, Father?"

"Dear, of course we did!"

"It was the best performance out there. No less from a Kiryu," said Mr. Kiryu.

Joshua smiled. "I _knew _all along that you were going to come, Father." _Since when? _"While Mother can't play the violin, I'll do her share as well as my own." _So that's why he became Okami..._ "So I won't quit, no matter what you say."

"That's absolutely fine by me," said Mr. Kiryu. "Son, it took a lot of self-reflection, but I arrived at the conclusion that I should support whatever you do. As much as I can."

"I never thought I'd say this, but thank you Father."

_Oh. _OH. Neku saw what was going on here. Both father and son were giving off the 'perfect relationship' aura, coupled with the 'I am amazing because I resolved my own problems' feeling. It seemed like to Neku that they weren't going to acknowledge his help even in their heads at all. _...well, guess they would be called 'Kiryu' if they did._

Later, though, as Joshua was about to leave with his parents, he tapped Neku on the shoulder. "Tomorrow, we need to talk about what happened earlier."

The memory...

Neku nodded as he said his goodbyes.

"Oh...and...thanks, Neku."

_That's better._

xxxxx

It seemed like Joshua had made peace with his dad. That didn't stop him, though, from looking uneasy during lunch the next day. He hadn't touched his own _bento_, and seemed to be thinking over things. He only looked up when he saw Rhyme holding out a _bento _out for him.

Joshua took it into his hands and stared at it. "Hmm, who's it from this time?"

"Me," Rhyme answered.

He raised an eyebrow and Rhyme smiled.

"It's thanks for saving me," she said, sincerely. "I would have probably drowned if it weren't for you. I think...I think I'll reconsider your offer on that training. I should believe in you more, since we're friends now."

"All right, I suppose I _will _eat this one," said Joshua, again in his high tone of his. He did, though, whisper under his breath to Neku. "I also suppose I should be feeling guilty for bad-mouthing her now..." _At least he admits it. "_But you're going to have to thank the Other Joshua this time too. And...I guess I should thank him too."

It was strange to hear Joshua talk about the Other Joshua without a spiteful tone. Neku thought that showing what looked like a bad memory would make him more bitter, but Joshua seemed to be grateful.

"He...he showed them all to me."

"All of what, yo?" Beat asked.

"His memories. And...what he's been up to all this time." Joshua took a deep breath. "That Spirit in the memory you saw? Yes, she's the one who made my Soul very unstable. And my mother's. She's the one who caused my mother to have to stay in the hospital. He knows that you met her, Neku. He's been going out all the time because...he wants to get justice on her, for our family. But she's not the root of it. From the information he's gathered, she's part of a group of Spirits that cling onto one very strong Soul. The thing is, they change their 'Boss' every so often, and the Boss they had when I was affected is not the same one they have now. To completely sever all of their Pacts, we need to get to their Boss."

"It's impossible for a Pact to be severed by the Other Joshua. He can defend against them, sure, but he can't sever a Pact. Only another Spirit can do that." He shifted his gaze downwards again. "Neku, when Shiki died, the Other Me prevented Shiki's Soul from drifting away and purposefully attached in to your Soul."

Joshua was the reason Shiki was with him? "But...why me?"

"It's more or less a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Joshua. "The Other Me had just enough information to start putting a plan into action. He went to Miyashita Park, knowing a Soul was lingering around there. Your Soul was the first one he saw that was compatible enough for a Pact with Shiki's." This time he met Neku's eyes. "In other words, the Other Joshua - or rather, I - have been using you as a means of getting revenge for my mother's illness."

Neku gave him a hard look. Joshua didn't flinch.

Well.

"Huh. For some reason this doesn't really bug me all that much," said Neku, tugging at is collar.

"Yo. We all know you a prick. Least it's for a good reason."

"Beat's right. It wouldn't be good to let these Spirit guys roaming around. We wouldn't want what happened to you and your mother to happen to someone else when they eventually decide to switch Bosses again."

"Are you telling me you're willing to continue helping me?" he asked them all. "What does Shiki think?"

Neku already knew what Shiki would say if she was going to call. It was perhaps why she didn't feel like she needed to right now. "She'd want to help you out too."

"You guys..." said Joshua. "You're all...you're all just idiots. I hope you realise that."

"Your fault for picking idiots to be your friends, yo," said Beat with a grin.

"Or better yet, that makes you just as much as an idiot as the rest of us are."

"Ah, well at least I'm an idiot with good looks."

It was at this point in which Beat and Neku decided to give Joshua a very friendly shove backwards.

xxxxx

"After Okami's big appearance in that recital, she actually started replying to the messages I sent her." Hanekoma smiled widely at Neku, who was sitting across from him.

"Really?" Neku suppressed a smile of his own. "What did he - er, _she_ - say?"

"She said that she'd compose a new piece on her own for the album. She also said that she owed a friend for pushing her to agree." _I only mentioned it to Joshua in passing..._Neku never thought he'd take it really seriously.

"I wonder what I should write on the album cover. We're putting a bit of info 'bout everyone who contributes the album. Okami won't agree to a picture but I might push my luck and ask her what her music is about, ya know? What inspires her, things like that."

"That...that would be his- _her _- family, I think."

"Her family? How'd ya figure that one?"

"Er, that's just what I get when I listen Okami's music. I could be wrong."

Hanekoma leaned back in his chair. "No, no, I can see that."

Neku nodded, feeling wistful. "Must be nice."

"What would be nice?"

"Having a family."

"Well, you might not have your folks around anymore, but you have a family too, you know."

The teen blinked. "I do?"

"'Course ya do. If you care about your friends enough and they care about you, then they're your family."

His friends? _Maybe he's right..._

_"_And if not, you've always got me. Dontcha think of me as part of your family? I'm your uncle after all. That's cold!"

"No! I mean yes. I mean yeah...if...if you're okay with it then..."

"Then that's that. Now no more brooding anymore. C'mon, let's go grab ourselves a cuppa coffee."

xxxxx

"Mr. H was really sweet today," commented Shiki on the phone, after Neku came back from Hanekoma's office. "You know, I think he really enjoys talking to you just as much as you like talking to him."

"That'd be great if he did," Neku said, while shooing Nimew off the sofa.

He closed his eyes, relaxing into the softness of it.

"Shiki, you're worrying again."

"Huh? I'm not! What do you mean?"

Neku chuckled. Their Pact was strong enough for him to summon her but she still wanted to pretend he didn't know.

"You're worrying about what Joshua said at lunch. You know when I said I didn't want you to leave? You should have been able to figure out that it means I don't regret meeting you, either. Rather then the 'wrong place at the wrong time', let's say I was 'at the right place at the right time'."

"I - I...I don't regret meeting you either!"

"I wouldn't be offended if you did - you only met me because you were dead, after all. Don't you regret dying at your age?"

"...If we're being honest here, I think I would die _twice _if...if that was what it took to meet you."

_Oh, there's that feeling again...from her...or is it me? What is it...?_

_"_W-wait! Neku! Why am I here?"

Hearing that her voice was louder, he almost jumped when he saw that Shiki was now visible and 'sitting' in the spot next to him on the sofa.

"Er - well." He was just thinking that maybe he could figure it out if he could see her expression. From what he could see, she just looked confused. And maybe embarrassed , because of the dark pink staining her cheeks. "I guess I still don't have this whole calling you thing under control. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it."

"O-oh. Okay." Now she looked disappointed. As if she was expecting him to say something.

Oh, wait. "If you want me to be really honest, I'd throw coins into the waterfall until my money ran out if it means I'd have met you."

"Whaat? Okay you're not being honest! You're being cheesy! Geez, Neku, at least sound genuine."

"I _am _being genuine," said Neku, face flaming because he'd made himself look stupid. "I'm just not good with words, okay? Do I even need to say it? You know what I mean."

"Yes. I know what you mean." She smiled. "Thanks Neku." She reached out her hand.

"H-hey, what are you -?" Neku looked down as Shiki tried to put her hand over his, but it went right through.

"I wonder how the other Spirits do it. 777 could push you down but I can't even touch your hand."

"We'll probably figure it out. Maybe we just need a stronger bond."

She pulled her hand back. "Probably."

"Well, you know what to do. Talk to me."

"'To' you and not 'at' you?"

"Yes, 'to' me."

"Hehe, this is going to be long!"

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

**A/N: Tadaa! I think this is the first time I've been late for my self-set deadlines. It's only by one day but still. -sigh- But I think holding out was worth it, because I wanted to get this chapter right and put in everything I wanted to (and that's how you ended with a long-ass chapter). And of course there's the extra content that I wanted to do for you guys~ **

**This was the end of part two - the 'Family' Arc.**

**Seven chapters for the first part and seven chapters for the second part. I'm sure lots of you can figure out the eventual length of this fic. This fic will be taking a break for a month, while I work on my fic for tumblr's TWEWY Big Bang and get stuff prepared for the last part.**

**And again, since this is the end of an arc, I'd appreciate if you guys, especially my silent readers, to drop a review telling me what you thought of this arc!**

* * *

**Thanks to those who put this on favourite and/or followed: **

EternalAir, ,renvent123, Death-Prince-3,Dracodraco100,Lamiror

**Thanks to my dear, dear reviewers: **

ElementLegend, CirciFox81314 ,Reilie,Xerzo LotCN,Faliara,B.A.G-GOMEZ,Omega Zekrom, Forever-Rose09,cutekitty5597,EternalAir,Chronic Guardian,Airhead259

**I've now reached over 50 faves, 60 follows and 130 reviews. What. You guys. YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING I LOVE YOU GIVE ME HUGS. OR HIGH FIVES. WHICHEVER YOU PREFER. Or like if you don't want to do either it's cool too but you're still awesome.**

**And I'd like to say that in a few reviews, it turns out some of you re-read this fic and it makes me so damn happy to hear that, you have no idea.**

******I'll see you guys again at the end of next September!**

* * *

**In the meanwhile, why not check out some other TWEWY fics? 'Times Ten' by _Tensei Kano_, 'Hybrid::Mixed Feelings' by _Chronic Guardian_ and 'Choose the World You See' by _Crow's Gamble_ are ongoing chaptered fics that I really enjoy. 'Sounds of Shibuya' by _MasterPassionCreed_ is an amazing track collection to read. 'TWEWY fics by _Yueli-san, Lies-and-Distractions, Infamouspot_ and _Reilie_ are always brilliant too.**

**If you're looking for something more shippy Shinra-ex-SOLDIER has a lot of Neku/Shiki goodness and DenizenofTwilight is the master of Joshua/Rhyme if you're into that :D (I have a Neshiki collection myself but self-plugging is...totally what I'm doing right now. Yep.)**

** - Dina (26 August 2013)**

* * *

**Bonus Content**

**(For previous content, refer to the end of Chapter Seven)**

_Ringtones from Beyond (All TWEWY OST)_

8. Transformation

9. Long Dream

10. Hybrid

11. TheOne Star

12. Make or Break

13. Ooparts

14. Runaway

_Pseudo Poem Persepective_

8. Shiki

9. Joshua

10. Rhyme

11. Beat

12. Nimew

13. Hanekoma

14. Neku

_Timeline_

(Chapter 8)

15 Apr Mon - Neku comes back to class to find that his classmates now idolize him. Ai Urahara talks to him - she appears to be a friend of Beat.

21 Apr Sun - At Miyashita Park Neku briefly meets Beat. Rhyme is ill. Neku is attacked by BJ. Joshua appears to save Neku form BJ's attack, but quickly goes away again. It appears that Shiki is a 'Spirit'.

(Chapter 8/9)

22 Apr Mon - Joshua joins Neku's class. It is revealed that Joshua has two personalities - a human one, and an 'angel' one. Human Joshua does not know what 'Angel Joshua' is doing. Neku and Joshua go with Beat to visit Rhyme. Rhyme's Soul, due to it's instability, goes out of control. Joshua manages to regain a safe level of stability for her Soul.

(Chapter 10)

23 Apr Tues - Neku tells Rhyme and Beat about Shiki. Shiki introduces herself. Rhyme decides to train herself to stabilize her own Soul. BJ and Tenho both attack Neku. Shiki becomes visible and holds off the Spirits, resulting in their retreat. Neku faints, and wakes in Shibuya General Hospital, with Dr. Bito. He then meets his guardian - Sanae Hanekoma, a famous producer of CAT.

(Chapter 11)

24 Apr Wed - Joshua receives a note from the Other Joshua - Neku needs to learn how to summon Shiki. Neku has dinner with Hanekoma. Okami is a topic of interest.

(Chapter 12)

25 Apr Thurs - Joshua is picked up by Kitaniji - the gang is invited to the Kiryu household. Okami is revealed to be Joshua.

(Chapter 12/13)

27 Apr Sat - Shiki vaguely recalls her death. This is interrupted by a call - Rhyme is in the hospital, after almost drowning. Neku, Beat and Joshua are met with Dr. Bito and Mr. Kiryu in her hospital room. Joshua's mum is revealed to be a permanent resident of the hospital, due to her unstable Soul.

(Chapter 14)

29 Apr Mon - Joshua gives Neku and Beat tickets for the recital. Neku encounters Mr. Kiryu and confronts him about Joshua's recital.

30 Apr Tues - After school, Neku goes to Miyashita Park to talk to Shiki about her death. He is ambushed by BJ, Tenho and 777. He summons Shiki and she defeats them. A female Spirit appears and severs the Pacts of her defeated comrades. Neku hurries to the recital. Joshua's playing triggers the appearance of the Other Joshua, and a memory is shown to both Neku and Rhyme (Beat is unable to sense Souls and so is not able to see the memory, either, though he is informed by Rhyme about it straight after).

31 Apr Wed - Rhyme considers training under Joshua. Neku is told by Joshua that Shiki was put in a Pact with Neku as a means by 'Other Joshua' to take justice upon the group of Spirits that caused Mrs. Kiryu's illness. Neku, Beat and Rhyme agree to aid Joshua in his cause. Neku visits Hanekoma and is reassured about his thoughts on 'family'. Shiki and Neku have a heart-to-heart. Shiki hopes to strengthen her bond with Neku, in hopes in being able to materialise.

**Omake**

**_Ai Urahara:_**

"Beat!"

"Ai?"

"You're not getting out of it this time."

"Whaddya say?"

"It's all you can eat at Ramen Don today! We're still on for the 'who can eat six bowls the fastest', right?"

"Hehe, you're on!"

**_The__ Adventures of Nimew - Part 3:_**

Nimew stopped in the middle of its morning prowls.

There was another get roaming around the street, a cute little pink bow on its head.

Its eyes, flashing, Nimew walked up to the female cat. Time to put out some moves.

Finally, the readers had it confirmed that Nimew was a male cat.

**_Bento:_**

"Erm, Yoshiya-kun?" The girl blushed red. "Please take my _bento_!"

"It's not like I _want_ to share this with you. But you better eat it, Kiryu, since I've got extra and all," said the tsundere girl.

Then there was the flirty type. "Hmm~ Forget the _bento_. How about a kiss instead?"

There were also the guys. But Joshua tended to leave them out while bragging.

**_Master and Senpai:_**

Hah! Neku was being called 'master' by Shooter now, but Neku didn't say anything about it.

Beat spotted Neku and was about to call him out on it, "Hey, Mast-"

"Senpai!" Yammer ran up to Beat.

"Yo, Yammer." Senpai?

"Could you teach me how to kick more accurately? Please, senpai?"

"Uh...that's aight. I'll...do that."

Both Neku and Beat would not admit it, but they rather enjoyed their new titles.

**_In The First Year Classroom:_**

_"_Shooter,would you care to translate this sentence?"

"Er - that's...well that's..."

...

"In Japanese it translates to 'The woman waited by the bus stop for three hours.' Or something like that."

"That's...correct."

...

"Psst, thanks Rhyme!"

"No problem!"

_**Butler**:_

"Mr. Kitaniji, could you please arrange for transport to school?"

"Immediately?"

"Yes, it is very urgent."

"Urgent?"

"Very."

Kitaniji sometimes felt unsettled on occasion. Sometimes he felt as if he wasn't even talking to the young master.

But he was only a butler.

It was no place of his to question orders.

**_Drinking Buddies:_**

"Hahaha, Kenjiiii, your face is all reeeed!"

"Shuddup Yuu."

"Shopping at Kiryu pick and choooose. With prices like these you can't afford to lose. Do you know that song? It's my song! It's the Kiryu song!"

"I don't have song. But I have a Beat and a Rhyme. Haha, get it? _Beat and Rhyme?_ My kids call 'emselves that. But they're not! I'm _suuure _I named my son Daisukenojo."

_"_Maybe he's been abduuuucted by an alien. And got replaced!"

"That's it~~! My son's an alieeen."

Dr. Bito never remembers what he says when he's drunk, and Mr. Kiryu values his good looks enough not to remind him.

**_Love Stories:_**

"I don't get it. Why didn't he just _tell _her?"

"Duh Neku, it's because he loves her!"

"Then he should just tell her!"

"She's _engaged!_"_  
_

"Okay, I get that. But how is it that he gets into a crash with the car that _just so happens _to be the one she was using to get to her wedding."

"It's a TV drama! What do you expect?"

"Something that makes sense! Shiki, I'm never watching another romance drama with you."

"Oh, _please. _The next one is about two forbidden lovers, the grave-digger's daughter and the son that's the heir to a yakuza group!"

"What the actual- ? No."

"Pleaaase!"

"Don't give me that look just because I can see you now."

"_Pleasee?"_

_"Argh, damn it all _- fine. But this is the _last one._"

"Woohoo! Thanks Neku, you're the best!"

"Yeah..yeah..."

**_The Adventures of Nimew - Part 4_**

The lone black cat traversed through an alleyway, trying to stay on track of the pretty cat he spotted earlier.

Suddenly, other cats jumped out from the dustbins.

The alleycats. Filthy and dirty.

Were they picking a fight?

Haha, silly things, he had the sharpest claws around.

They wouldn't see what hit them.

...

"Nimew! The hell you doing, coming back looking like that? You know what that means?"

Oh no. He completely forgot.

"You're getting a bath. I know you _love_ your baths. And I've got your _favourite_ brush ready."

_Noooooo!_


End file.
